ReBecca Richardson Blog 10- Film

Kieslowski’s Decalogue speaks from the nature of human imperfection. Midrash as we discussed in class explains the inner meanings. The first piece we watched pointed to the imperfection of man, as man misinterprets what he perceives as truth. The father relied not on faith but on fact, and due to this he lost his son. He typed statistics into his computer and got back data, this data is where the father’s faith resided. The calculations said yes it is ok to skate on the ice. After his son’s death, the father tries to find meaning in life, and he tries to comprehend where his device (his computer) went wrong. All the while the computer consistently displays the message “I am ready.” It’s almost as if the computer is saying rely on me once more so that I may let you down. Imperfect man creates an imperfect contraption that relays statistical information, instead of true knowledge.
Toward the beginning of the film, the boy does math equations that are beyond his years. Next he finds a dead dog and questions his father where has the dog gone. Here we get our first glimpse at the father’s perspective. He says the dog goes nowhere and instead just vanishes. The Aunt in contrast explains souls and she believes in something bigger than statistics and quantitative research. With these opposing points of view the boy is torn between faith and facts. Before he can even decide, death takes him. The audience is moved by this abrupt happening. We like the boy’s character, and then feel sorrow when we find out he is dead. Even as the signs begin to point toward the boy’s death we panic with the father and fight with him in his denial that the boy can’t be dead. We feel with the father, not just for him. We feel the loss of the boy, we don’t just see it. The film transcends beyond the screen and touches us internally, on a deeper intangible level.
In the second Decalogue we see three primary characters; an attorney, a cab driver, and a teen. The cab driver and the teen seem corrupt, when you look at their initial actions. This is until we see the cab driver begging for his life, and the teen reminiscing about his dead sister. We see their previous actions and feel they need repercussions, yet when the cabbie is killed we feel horror and sorrow. We the audience feel that, that kind of punishment was undeserved. When the teen is sentenced to death and we seem that little piece of humanity in him, we can understand better as to how he got to that low point. His death seems unnecessary or harsh. His actions cannot be recanted, yet a life for a life seems unfair. The attorney devoted his life to justice, and to making sure crime is cut down. However when he gets to know the boys story, he does not feel justice is on the teens side. The attorney goes against the justice system he had devoted his life to, and declares he will never be ready to let the boy go. The government has a set of laws to define how justice is meant to be played out, yet how are those laws determined? Is a life for a life truly just? I believe this depends on perspective. If you were the family member of a lost loved one then you may say yes it is just. If you were like the attorney and discovered the humanistic side of the animal, would you have sympathy? I felt differently through the film. When the cab driver was hitting on the lady, and when he left that couple behind I thought it was bad characteristic’s however when he was being maimed and murdered I felt bad for him. The teen even, he was obnoxious to many people, and we saw soft sides of him when he interacted with little girls. When he committed murder I felt baffled; I wondered where did that come from? More was revealed about the teen when he asked about his mom, and told of his sister. It was then that sympathy and a touch of sorrow kicked in. Midrash allows feelings to come when none are expected and allows them to linger even after intangible events have passed.

Megan Wood- Blog #4 (assignment-Decalogues)

The first short film from the Decalogue series that we watched was based upon the 1st commandment: "Thou shall have no other Gods before me." Essentially the clip followed a period in the life of a boy and his dad, who's life was inundated with new computer technology that enabled him to calculate probability and statistics pertaining to events. The father was outwardly nonreligious, putting his faith in only what he could see- to a point where this reliance on this "programmed computer which has its own aesthetics, personality" became a blind worship of the technology that would cost him his son's life. The film used visual symbolism to foreshadow the event, such as the ink bottle cracking like the ice. The computer's unknowing response to questions like, "Do you know his dreams?" should have been a warning that some things cannot be calculated.
When his son died, the father's interaction with the religious shrine in the church held a lot of symbolism in representing the nature of his faith: By crossing himself with the ice, it was like he was accepting that what killed his son was connected to a holy other; the ice melting as he did so represented his still distance from that holy. The whole film was a great example of Midrash, or punishment for worshiping false gods.


The second clip from the Decalogue series featuring the commandment: "Thou shall not kill" was the story of a troubled boy named Jacek, who acted out in anger as a result of the death of his younger sister (and best friend). The story chronicled his planning and committing of the murder of a taxi cab driver, and then the planning and committing of his death sentence as a result. Most interestingly, there were many parallels between these two "deaths."
1. A last meal was had by the "killers" right before each death
2. Both "murders" were committed with a rope
3. both deaths were planned and calculated
Here Midrash is used to show the complexity of death and how it intertwines with love, as Kieslowski argues are both things that unite us all emotionally. The audience is given short glimpses of Jacek's true emotional character (a loney, troubled boy who just needs help) only a few times, but most fervently while he discussed his sister with his lawyer before he is killed. As for Midrash, this clip shows how in many ways, revenge and justice are on in the same.

Louisa Andrusko-Blog #5-Decalogue

The commandment thou shall honor no god before me is the commandment for the first Decalogue as well as the father’s tragic flaw. His love, or worship, of technology has become the priority in his life as well as the connection to his young son. While the father is also very blunt about his lack of faith, he does allow his son to attend religious classes to make up his own mind about God. I found this part particularly interesting in that it was not the son who was honoring another god, yet his life was ultimately claimed. The reliance on technology leads to the father’s downfall. Because he is a man of logic, he cannot rely on something so transcendent or unknown, such as religion. Even when he is realizing that it was most likely his own son that drowned in the pool, he attempts to make sense of things in a rational way. He does not act like most parents would have in that situation. Instead, he refuses to give into his emotions, focusing solely on the logistics of the situation. While the father does not have faith in God, he does in fact have faith in the computer. Interestingly though, he does not destroy his computer, but instead destroys the religious shrine. You would think he would have blamed the thing that he had put all of his faith in, rather than something he had no relationship with before. The homeless man near the pond serves as a symbol of an omniscient presence. He knows what’s going to happen and is obviously upset when the young boys die. The pain both the homeless man and the father feel is shown through Midrash, punishment for worshiping false gods. This punishment of the father by God shows the wrathful God, echoing times in the Bible in which people were punished for straying from God.
The cinematography of the film further demonstrates Midrash. The scene in which the father discovers his dead son’s body evokes both remorse and anger from the audience. We finally realize that this obsession with technology ultimately resulted in the gambling of his son’s life. Further, the kneeling of the surrounding community (a religious notion) shows the return to God when something so tragic and overwhelming takes place. While this film was made a long time ago, we can see how it is relevant today, especially with our culture’s heavy reliance on technology and media.

Kieslowski argues that pain and love are something that unites us all, an idea common in both Decalogue I and V. In Decalogue V, the commandment shown through Midrash is “Thou shall not kill.” While the young Jacek is sentenced to death for murder, he still appeals to the audience through his ability to feel, to know pain both physically and emotionally. The pictures of his young sister who died and the words he speaks about her shows Jacek in a new light—a boy who suffers. Jacek changes throughout the film, depending on the situation he is in. At times, he seems so malicious and cruel, yet when confronted by children or death, he reverts back to childhood antics. While Decalogue V is about killing, it is also blatantly about revenge. Punishing murder with more killing has remained a controversial subject throughout our own society as well as around the world. However, it is only until we learn more about Jacek that we second-guess his sentence. Both killings in the film are extremely premeditated and executed with rope. While Jacek dies in a much more “humane” way, the audience still feels torn on whether or not it was justified. Referring back to Kieslowski, it is the fear of death that Jacek feels that makes him so relatable to the judging audience, enforcing the code. Even though the Commandments do not govern our every day lives, they are still determining factors in what happens to us during and after life. Once again, Midrash is used to show the complexity of death. While both the taxi driver and Jacek seem to leave mundane, unfulfilling lives, death does not serve as liberation in any way.

Louisa Andrusko-Blog #4 Field of Dreams

There are many religious themes throughout the film “Field of Dreams.” The intermingling of life and death provides an environment in which people are forced to acknowledge and question death. Ray, the main character, and his wife can be interpreted as searching for the promise land, or some sort of redemption through the building of this field. Consequently, this field provides them insight into what happens after life. The reactions to this field varies based upon the amount of belief, or faith, the characters have. Ray and James Ear Jones accept the field of dreams/miracles with a sense of wonderment and awe. Ray’s brother-in-law, on the other hand, is skeptical and impatient with the unwavering faith Ray has. This disbelief is manifested through the fight he has with Ray during one of the climaxes of the scene. The argument over what happens after death is something so familiar to audiences, yet unfamiliar at the same time because it is often considered taboo to talk about. The “call” Ray hears throughout the film is interpreted by many as the voice of God. This calling Ray has is similar to many prophets in religion that heed the call of their God. Like the actor in “The Seventh Seal,” the call Ray hears not only offers him evidence and reason, it also offers him comfort. It is this lack of evidence that frustrates and confuses his brother-in-law. When James Earl Jones enters the corn field, he does not greet death with a sense of tremendum, but instead joy. This scene was also similar to the scene from “The Seventh Seal” when the characters respond to the presence of death differently. One question I have about the film is what role does his wife play? Why does she seem to be able to keep one foot in both worlds? Further, what role does the innocent child play? What does this innocence say about our faith?

Deanna Yurovich - Blog #5 - Reading (iPrayer?)

It is amazing to see how far we have gotten via technology. We are now able to talk face to face with people who are thousands of miles away, we can send a quick text to someone and not have to fully call, and Catholics can even confess their sins through a new app (of course there is an app for that). Wait a minute…

In looking to see what outside reading I wanted to do for my blog I was looking on MSN at the different news articles and found one from February 10 about the new app for confession (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110210/lf_nm_life/us_vatican_iphone). Thankfully the Catholic Church is not using this as a new way to confess ones sins. According to the Vatican spokesperson, the application is not designed to replace going to confession but to help Catholics through the act, which generally involves admitting sins to a priest in a confessional booth. This can kind of be related to the first episode in the Decalogue series, there should be no other gods besides the one true God. Through reading this article and some others having to do with the topic it seems the app is more for walking one through the actual act of confession while they are in confession. It is also used as a way to keep track of one’s sins for confession. Using it in this case seems alright in that it is not replacing the actual sacrament. As I have said in past blogs, we need to remember that while technology is great, it should not replace any of our truly religious acts. It is a man made thing that has helped us succeed in life, but we should remember where our faith should truly lie. A question I do have is that since the app is approved for use by the Catholic Church, when it is used is one in the sacred world? Does this make the app “sacred?” Or is it still in the profane since it is not the actual religious act?

Deanna Yurovich - Blog #4 - Decalogue

According to our notes, “midrash is said to minimize the literal meaning of the text and force the reader to struggle with the meaning, to make the meaning personal. The readers can project themselves into the search for meaning.” In looking at the two episodes of The Decalogue that we watched we can see how moving the episodes are and how they can affect each of us in a similar but different manner and how it relates to the commandment they are supposed to represent without flat out stating it.
The first episode was the first commandment; Thou shall have no other god besides me. This is show in the fact that the son and father are very intrigued with what the computer can do with its calculations. The computer even tells the son what his mother is “doing” at the time. They use it so much that they determine whether or not the son is able to skate on a frozen over pond. The father knows that this can be dangerous so they do all of the calculations and he tells his son that the next day he may go ice skating, the father even goes to the pond himself to check the thickness. Unfortunately his faith in the computer failed him. The pond was not as frozen as calculated and the son fell in and died. His father had a god of the computer before God and he was punished for it. What makes this episode midrash is that no one ever states that he is placing too much emphasis on the computer, not even the father’s sister who has signed the son up for Church Education classes. She understands her brother has faith, but has turned to something that seems more concrete. This episode makes me realize that all of the great technology that is being made is good until a point; we need to remember that there is something greater than ourselves that created this entire world and not just a computer.
The second episode we watched was the fifth in the series with the fifth commandment; Thou shall not kill. The basic story is that a man kills another man and is now being put on the death row. One thing that I found interesting about this episode is that the killer is not shown like today’s criminal shows, we actually see him as a human because of the very normal and basic things he does to show that he is just like us. He sits and has coffee, he is seen trying to get errands done, but what makes him see slightly inhumane is when he kills the man and then eats the sandwich without caring, but then he seems to come back and realize what he did when he gets mad at the radio. The death penalty is a very hot button issue and this begs the question should we really do an eye for an eye, as Gandhi says “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” The midrash feelings given in this episode are some of remorse and questioning. My biggest question was why did he kill the man, but that may be something we never know.
Using midrash in this Decalogue series was a very interesting way to go about it. From only seeing two episodes I can see that midrash helps get the point of the episode across without having to spell it out, which can be rewarding for the viewer and more enjoyable to watch for one’s own interpretation.

Emily LaBrie The Decalogue

I believe that these films work very well as Midrash in conveying the meaning of the commandments they represent. The first commandment, I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me does much more than portraying a simple command. The viewer gets to see the terribly tragic results when one holds something else other than a belief in god in a higher respect. The item that is held in such high esteem in this episode is a reliance on technology, or a computer system to be more specific. Several times during the episode we see the reliance on the computer in the father and son’s apartment. There is the time when the son asks the computer the answer for a math problem, this grows into the computer being asked to do simple tasks like lock the door and turn on the water. The boy also ironically has questions about religion and God while he also wonders if the computer can know what his distant mother is dreaming. (Something only God could know) Finally the reliance reaches its tragic point when the boy and non-believing father go to the computer to check if it is okay to skate on a frozen pond. The computer said it was fine; this is why it was so hard for the father to believe that his son had fallen through. How could the piece of technology he put so much faith in prove him wrong? The message of holding God above all others is conveyed through Midrash by showing the pain a father feels when he loses his son for trusting in something for knowing a fact only God could control. You should not obey the commandment because God said so; you should do it to possibly preserve those who you love the most.
The Midrash in the other commandment episode does not convey true meaning through the tragic sadness of losing a young life, but the tragic regret that follows in the disregard of the commandment that follows though shall not kill. It seems very simple in the film that the young man who kills the taxi driver is breaking the commandment. However, we see through his actions and those of the driver that they are both not very different. They are both not exemplary human beings to say the least. The taxi driver purposefully makes a women lose her dog, degrades a young woman, and ignores the needs of a young couple. The young man pushes a man in the urinal, ignores a man in need during a mugging, and makes a woman’s bird sly away. However, they are both not completely bad. The taxi driver shares his meal with a stray dog while the young man plays with girls at the window in the café. The young man is not completely immoral either, when he sees the “angel of death figure” while in the cab, he hides in the shadows knowing what he is about to do is wrong. We see the horror of the young man taking a life, not only for the driver’s sake but for his own. The next meaning of Midrash is conveyed through the similarities found in the carrying out of the execution of the young man who killed the taxi driver. There are so many similarities, from the detail in planning of the death to the reluctance and fight put up by the man about to die. The angel of death shows up for both victims, not just the taxi driver. The desperation against such a process is given voice through the lawyer of the young man as he fights against the death penalty sentence. Through his suffering and the regrets expressed by the young man before he dies the audience can feel the true meaning of thou shall not kill; not only through the murder of the taxi driver, but through the state murder of the young man. The director makes you feel the same sorrow for both victims in the process.
When said “It very quickly became clear that these would be films about feelings and passions, because we knew that love, or the fear of death, or the pain caused by a needle-prick, are common to all people, irrespective of their political views, the color of their skin or their standard of living” he meant to convey that though we are different, we all feel the same pain. Though the father refused to believe in powers that were not in his own control, we still felt the pain he felt when he lost his son and turned to God for any type of solace in the end. Though the young man was a murderer, he still had the attitude of the child when he ate the cake, played with the girls. We can all imagine what it would be like, the desperation, the regrets from the past we would feel if we were put in his situation.
Because of the Midrash in these episodes, because of how we can relate to the pain people feel in the films, the film does work to contextualize the code of the Ten Commandments to every person. They were not just come code given to Charlton Heston in some movie we had to watch every Easter. The symbols of the different lives, like I previously pointed out, helped bridge the distance between feeling and meaning because while we may never know what it feels like to we trust in computers above all or know how it feels to lose a loved one to murder, we can relate to the pain of losing a loved one, or maybe imagine how it would feel to fear for your life. One symbol that touched me the most was how the “angel of death figured” appeared to all characters involved. Whether they lived or died. I would like to focus on the second Decalogue shown. The “angel” was there not only in the beginning for the departed taxi driver, but also for the murderer before his execution, even after the murderer had pushed him in the urinal. The director tried to prove from this ethereal figure that all life when interpreted through the commandments is sacred.

Willie Mears: Post 3ish

The first film by Kieslowski, Decalogue One, was very thought provoking and had the classic ‘ah-hah’ moment when it ended. Knowing ahead of time the subject of the film, the first commandment, I was scanning constantly to find the connection, and although I knew the relation the father had to the son was going to play a key role, I had no idea how. The visuals of the film works as Midrash to bridge the gap of understanding. I found this to be most evident in the father’s relationship to the son, showing better how God loves people as his children. The father loved his son well, but not in an overbearing way. I was surprised at the amount of freedom the father gave his son, letting him go ice-skating alone (after he checked the ice, of course), letting him stay home alone, and allowing him to be in the back of his class while he was instructing. This bridges the gap of understanding for me because it is a clear picture of God’s relationship to man, even though the father gave his son freedom did that mean that he loved him any less? By no means! The father loved his son so much that he did give him that freedom. Another interesting idea was in the father’s dependence on creations of man i.e. computers and mathematical formulas. He depended upon those to such an extent that he trusted his son’s life with them, after calculating the weight the ice was capable of holding, however in the end the formulas failed him. In the same fashion the father put much trust into his computer, however in the end when his son was gone the computer did nothing for him, his idols did not satisfy him, they were not living water.
Kieslowski uses all of these visuals to connect emotionally with the viewer, and in doing so, effectively communicate that if, as men, we put our faith into anything manmade i.e. technology, it will always fall short. The father’s life seemed to be in order, however when his son was taken from him, he quickly learned that everything else he had was meaningless compared to him.
In Decalogue Six we are told by God not to commit murder, and in his film Kieslowski shows that there is little difference between a premeditated murder in cold blood, and murder in carrying out a legal death sentence. Kieslowski does this by showing the entirety of a murder, trial, and execution of the murder. Cleverly, Kieslowski portrays the killer as an evil person, although he gives him some senses of morality, as when he plays with the children outside the window, overall the killer is seen as an evil man. Up until he himself is about to be killed via the death penalty the viewer is hoping he receives just that. As he strangles the cab driver, beats him on the head, then eventually bashes his skull in with a rock, the young killer seems to have no mercy in himself whatsoever. The tables’ turn however when the killer is about to be killed him, via the death penalty, as he talks to his lawyer about his past he is given a personality, made a human, and simultaneously the viewer begins to have mercy on him. This continues until he is eventually killed at the end, the film ends with the killers lawyer driving to a spot the killer mentioned had sentimental value to him, and yelling, “I abhor it!” out the window of his car. Him doing that shows that, in the end, there is no difference between murders, whether it is in cold blood, or after a trial. Kieslowski shows that by mirroring events that took place in each murder. In each case, the victim was killed by rope, done with premeditated thought, however one is acceptable and one horrifies others. Kieslowski’s film raises the question of why the two murders are viewed so differently, in the end the action is the same.

Jeffrey Benson Blog 1 - Film Clips

Bunny

The short clip has many different aspects of religion and life tied into the story and one must look below the surface to see the meaning the director is trying to portray in his story. We see the contrast between life and death as Bunny is still alive while her husband has previously passed on. The differing of emotions is clear as she remains sad and lonely, especially seen when she picks up the picture of the two of them together and reflects upon the time they shared. This speaks to the ravages of time and the toll it can take upon oneself when you lose people who are important in life. As the story progress we see a parallel between light and dark as she is in the dark to begin (sad, lonely) but then sees the light at the end of the tunnel (oven). The oven is the end of the story and sends many different messages that can be left to ones own interpretation. The oven is a sense of transformation as the point of an oven is changing from one state to another. She sensed the oven calling her (the bright light and rumbling) and was fearful of the power it was conveying. This mysterium gave way to tremendum as she wanted to die yet was scared of what was to come. As she climbs in she gives way to her will as she succumbs to the calling of the afterlife. The imagery used was powerful yet sad as it hurts to see anyones will for life decline due to the extenuating circumstances they are given.

Northfolk

This was an interesting film that consisted of a lot of symbolic imagery. I'm not sure of the overall meaning of the film but the individual clips shown helped to show how framing can portray to the viewer what you want them to see. In the first scene when they show the church against the backdrop of mountain it shows the openness nature can have and symbolizes God's vastness. It shows we are connected to nature when in fact the irony was they had to pick up their stuff and move else where. Another scene that was interesting to me and symbolize mainstream society versus those who don't conform was the image of the buffalo and the boy going in opposite directions. Lastly, the coffin on the car gives the viewer a perspective of death that we normally don't see. The mood and scenery was ominous and filled with dark clouds and you could feel despair in the air. The unnaturalness associated with moving the dead after they had been buried, let alone on the top of a car gave a weird feeling as we were able to maybe see a crossing over from the profane to the sacred in this instance?

Paris, Texas

This was my favorite of the film selections we watched in class. The opening scene was especially powerful as we see a desolate man in the middle of the desert with a suit and tie. The music helps to set a somber tone and create an unnatural setting as we view the corporate-like looking man. The picture painted here is about civilization or the lack thereof. Civilization in the film is represented by mailboxes, telephone lines, and roads and as he moves away from civilization he is left with no communication. It could be said that he is searching for meaning and destiny in his life but has not found it yet. Scenery that lends to the aforementioned ideas include the car passing him by as they go in opposite directions, the gnarled rock mountain versus the green pastures when he is talking to his normal brother who views him as messed up. The traveling is an escape from reality that allows him to not face his fears and his problems. Towards the end of the movie he confronts his reality and talks to his wife at the brothel, we are able to see a great portrayal of reconnection through the imagery of there faces being imposed upon each other through the glass.

The Wall

This was my least favorite of the clips and extremely hard for me to grasp and understand. The film centers on war and life in British society afterward, the mood is gloomy and filled with despair. The conveyor belt was symbolic in the sense that it made individuals robotic and faceless. The irony here is that with education your supposed to think for yourself, yet they became workers and cogs in the machine until they rose up and rebelled. Another interesting part, along with the title, is the actual wall itself and how it enslaves us. This parallels with society today as technology absolutely holds us captive as we are self reliant upon it and cannot think for ourselves. The imagery was vivid and trans-formative and goes to show us that the system creates who we are as individuals.

Cabeza de Vaca

This film was about a Spanish prisoner who got captured and has to cling to his faith before giving in. The prisoner tries to escape and is brought back by the sorcerer. The is symbolized in the lizard being tether to a stick inside of a circle. The World of Shaman is in the circle and thus the prisoner cannot escape. He gives in after his rant when he finally breaks down and cries while also praying. As he is uttering a poem the audience is made aware of his captivity in the light of being a slave. He finds comfort in his outer-worldly experiences and this leads me to believe that he has found solace in the sacred world.

Sarah Clementson Blog 2- Decalogue

Krzysztof Kieslowski, an incredible Polish filmmaker, produced a series called The Decalogue because he believed that politics could not change people, but creating a film that evokes questions on deep core issues can make an even greater impact on someone’s character. The method Kieslowski uses to accomplish this is by dramatizing his points through his characters’ actions rather than just hashing them out with words. Analyzing his films under the Jewish hermeneutic principle of Midrash requires studying the film for both deep and comparative meaning relating to religion and law. In both of the films we saw, there was a central theme based on which of the Ten Commandments they were supposed to address. Midrash does not directly discussing which of the Ten Commandments it is analyzing, instead, it causes the viewer to question what it means when it says “You shall have no other gods before me” as well as what “You shall not murder” in a very different light than normally discussed.

In Decalogue One, the way that Kieslowski shows the first commandment that no other gods are before Yaweh is by showing the lives of one small family of a dad, a son and an aunt and what has begun to replace faith in a deity. The father has begun to believe in the power of technology and bases very important decisions in life on what math and computers say. When the calculations of the computer fail him and his son dies because ice breaks when it should not have, he is forced to reconsider his faith. One would normally say that from the way the father described death to his son, he did not believe in anything, but the film actually brought in the idea that the father did not worship a god instead he made technology his god. Midrash, or deep and comparative meaning was evident also through the types of visual symbols used in the film. He uses three visual symbols through the film, computers/technology, the frozen holy water, and the god man at the fire, all to portray a stark emotional revelation that occurs. The father says that he will entrust anything, even something as complex as understanding a language to a computer or as important as letting his son go on ice that is proven to be frozen through, but in the end the computer fails him and the viewer of the film must analyze whether it is safe to put faith in a man-made creation. The god man is sitting in front of a fire when the dog dies and the little boy finds him, he is sitting at the fire when the dad is searching, and he is sitting at the fire presumably when the boys drown in the ice, or at least the fire is still burning. Through all of this fire is eternal, always burning, when people are searching, living life, and when people die. And Kieslowski never explains why he always shows the man at the fire, he just wants people to question what his importance is. Finally, the frozen water represents the father frozen and unfeeling faith, as it melts next to his head in his hands, it is representative of all of the stipulations he had placed on an unseen God who he believed did not care and began to weep.

All of these situations in the film helps the viewer begin to connect the different sections of the film and understand how our society is so willing to put our faith in something tangible like technology, but in the end, even that fails us. Kieslowski uses feelings in the film to portray his heavy point that no matter how much we lean on our own creation and ideas, pain is pain, loss is loss, and technology cannot change those. He uses the film to show someone that every individual must make a decision of what he really believes, the aunt had faith in God, the father had faith in technology and the son did not understand what to believe. All of it in the end left everyone in excruciating pain over the loss of such a wonderful sweet and intelligent son. He did not use a far off example that was hard for other to relate, instead, the simplest story told it all and causes anyone watching the film to question what our life and existence is really about.

In the sixth Decalogue, God tells us that we should not commit murder and the plotline of the story is comparing the differences behind a calculated cold-blooded murder and a legal death sentence as murder. Kieslowski uses the god-man in some of the scenes to convey a message throughout. In one scene he is holding a measuring stick in the middle of the road and allows the taxi with Jacek and the taxi driver to pass through even though the Jacek is on the way to murder this man. As he stands with the standard, Jacek sinks into the shadows of the backseat as if he knows what he is doing is wrong and needs to hide. Both of the murders are calculated with rope, precise measurements, and plans but one is ugly and not socially acceptable, the other is precise, down to the bin to catch anything unwanted so that the clean up afterwards is not messy. One is okay because the law says so, but the lawyer who defends Jacek says in the end to an open field, “I abhor it!” because he questions any death as being permissible. This raises the obvious question of “Is the death penalty okay?” but it also raises deep questions of what the lawyer just became qualified to do, be a part of the justice system, to uphold the law. The lingering question though is the law correct? The way that Kieslowski addresses this issue is by making a real-life experience of someone who struggled with his little sister’s death and has not learned how to cope with life, children, especially little girls have an effect on him but cannot deter him from his destructive road. He was on the road to almost get revenge for his sister’s death, just as the state was taking revenge for his atrocious actions by taking his life. But, if one looks at Judaism, one would see that the Bible states that revenge is for the Lord to take, not humans. Jacek’s last request was to buried with his family, taking his mother’s place, and his last action was to get a few puffs on a cigarette. This shows the lack of eternal perspective; he cared more about his resting place than where he was going eternally. Also, he wanted a temporal satisfaction with the unfiltered nicotine instead of dwelling on more important issues. The film raises multiple questions as it compares two types of murders, a sanctioned one and unsanctioned one, the men’s reactions to the knowledge that they were facing death and the stipulations around them.

Edward Crews - Blog 2 - Midrash from 2/14/2011

Blog 2 - Harrison Crews - The Decalogue and Midrash
I can see how Kieslowski approached the creation of these films with Midrash in mind. For one, none of the points are blunt. Obvious by the end, okay, maybe. In Decalogue I, comparative meaning was used to establish deeper meaning. Not to say it wasn’t in Decalogue V, but I at least felt something special when viewing the concept of the first Commandment from this film. The phrase “I am the Lord they God; thou shalt have no other gods before me” can seem archaic and dated, which is an issue for any core religious belief. Of course, there are other religions present, but religion is not bound to what we view as the divine. Krysztof is notable in this for his lack of faith in a higher power, but replaces it with science, math, and technology instead of another deity. Comparative meaning can be found here, from modern technology to the other gods that the Commandment originally spoke of. In the end, what steeper cost is there to pay for his sacrilege than his own son? Signs pop up throughout the film constantly that let us draw this. The computer speaking to them may demonstrate it as a representation of a false god of sorts, something supernatural and uncontrolled. The two most striking symbols, I felt, were the images of Krysztof destroying the altar along with those of him watching his son’s body dredged from the frozen lake. The former represents a rejection from God, showing him as the break of the Commandment and the despair it drives him to. The latter gave me the feeling of Old Testament-style wrath of God. It drew the line between the modern all-loving, peaceful God and the God who destroyed cities and species for defying him. It evoked images of the Pharaoh‘s firstborn son struck down for his defiance of God. At the same time, however, it let us see Krysztof as a man and a father abandoned by his beliefs as he stands in shock with his only son‘s frozen corpse before him, not just an ignorant sinner as some more black-and-white religious perspectives would put forth. There is an even deeper sense of abandonment here by the shot being not of him upon his son’s body, but behind an entire crowd as strangers from emergency services retrieve it. Both of these wrapped around each other to establish what had happened and why, letting the audience feel it more than think it with images subtle enough to keep from being blatant, but strong enough to be undeniable. In this, feeling plays a larger role, especially in how humans share it. The audience feels the desperation as Krysztof searches for his son, so we feel desperate. We feels the sense of loss he already has talking about his faith in science and lack of faith elsewhere, thus we feel lost. We feel his sorrow when he realizes his son is dead as we watch him rage and mourn, thus we are sorrowful. This takes all the other elements and makes them personal, giving them a deeper meaning as Midrash is supposed to. These feelings touch those who watch it, to makes them care and make them pay attention like they could not possibly do if they did not react emotionally to the story on the screen. It gives a personal meaning to the audience, keeping what might otherwise fade out relevant in their lives by its nuanced observational style of the ancient Ten Commandments.

Decalogue V’s approach was not entirely dissimilar from Decalogue I, but it most certainly had differences. The topic matter, I’d argue, was much more controversial than the first. The death penalty is a hot button in more than a handful of places, but it provides a ready comparative meaning for the topic of “Thou shalt not kill.” It draws the audience in not so much through Piotr at first, but Jacek, the actual killer. While he is not wholly sympathetic, he is established as a human being in the eyes of the audience through several actions. When he wants the picture blown up of the little girl, it establishes that however cruel or senseless he may appear, he still feels. This is repeated when he smiles at the children outside the window. His story does this to a lesser degree, but the small things are really what set him apart in the minds of the audience. The daily life of the cab driver serves the same purpose. However, one of the strong visuals relating to the brutality of killing is while Jacek kills Waldemar, he straddles him, Waldemar with a bag over his head, raises a rock, and smashes his head in. The manner he does this in is frighteningly calm for someone murdering another man, which leads into his own execution. With these having worked Jacek’s identity into being human, though a flawed one, the image of his futile struggling while he is coldly hanged parallels the manner in which his victim died. In this, it is represented that a murder is a murder, even if institutionalized like the death penalty. The audience, watching this, is again made to feel. They have to feel that the people are alive and real, pushed to do so by their observation of them. They also have to feel the relevance of condemning the death penalty, so they have to feel the clearly wrong nature of what happens to both Jacek and his victim. In that, feeling is completely needed. The goal is to have them, as Piotr does, “abhor” the nature of killing, both outside and inside the law. The audience bears witness to the symbols of humanity, the symbols of killing, and thus feels the horror tied to their connection, creating a deeper, personal meaning as before. In regards to the last point, I think at least the pieces we watched to a good job of contextualizing the code. They are given meaning and relevance to the points they are based on. The Commandments are eternal, ancient things, larger than the daily lives of man, which makes them easy to forget. However, by connecting them with modern parallels, Kieslowski establishes on a personal level with his audience that these are constantly-present ideas, not just archaic footnotes. In that, the eternal is realized as present in the moment even if the two seem opposite. These rules are relevant, even vital to the characters. When the audience feels for the characters, they relate to them. When they relate to them, they look at how they are similar. The moment cannot ignore what always will be, just as the eternal must always bear relevance to the moment. In that, both in the movie and in its message, The Decalogue works to establish a bridge between the flux of the moment and the ultimate meaning eternity by interlocking the two.

All that said, it did prompt a few questions from me. I’m an atheist, which already puts me a little at odds with Decalogue I. Still, most of the Ten Commandments are with great merit as simple rules. Is there a message someone of little faith could take from Decalogue I aside from having no other god but god, such as an over-reliance on a specific source of information? Was the man in Decalogue I’s son taken for his own transgressions or his father’s, as he had genuine interest in spirituality? Is the loss of Piotr’s idealism watching the circus of death in Decalogue V another example of murder taking more victims than just those immediately killed? How does Krysztof’s destruction of the altar at the end of Decalogue I serve the point in question? I know we discussed this, but what are some potential alternative for the presence of the man sitting out in snow in Decalogue I besides being a god figure? Is it legitimate to suggest that it was just a casting decision or is there indeed some greater meaning? From just a viewer standpoint, are all the Decalogues so dark?

Decalogue Midrash

The first commandment depicted by Kieslowski, I am the lord your God etc. is an example of Midrash in that it applies contemporary issues facing Mosaic theism, namely, the rise of secular technology. The short film is overt, if not shamelessly so, in its message: there can be no substitute for the true God, and all other gods fall inevitably short. The father in this film is said to be an agnostic of sorts, finding belief in God difficult because of His transcendent nature, but not difficult to the point of outright denial. However, it is clear that to this man, technology and science have absolutely no limits; he gives a point in seeming opposition to Ludwig Wittgenstein’s claims regarding the limits of language, claiming that true meaning could be captured if a machine with sufficient memory capacity existed. Eventually, in predictable fashion, the golden calf of the father is destroyed in spectacular fashion with the death of his son, who had his blessing to go skating (he died while so doing) based on scientific measurements he had taken. Such a visceral illustration of the first commandment not only helps us understand the meaning in a universally approachable manner, but has the emotional weight to drive home the point. The moral of the story is, of course, never trust communist government organizations, they can’t even take the temperature right.
The next short film, illustrating the fifth commandment, is of markedly lower quality. The first half of the film is devoted to showing the events leading up to a murder of a taxi driver, from the point of view of the both victim and the murderer. The young man is shown to be thoughtlessly destructive, while the driver is shown to be boorish and equally despicable. The point of this is to show 1.) the premeditation of the young man which establishes a later parallel and 2.) to show that neither of the individuals involved in the crime were contributing much to society. Once the young man commits his crime, he is arrested and sentenced to death. The second half is devoted to showing the premeditated manner in which the young man’s death is arranged, attempting to create a sense of irony. The intention here is clear, according to the fifth commandment; no one should kill, regardless of their position of earthly authority. This ignores the fact that the death penalty was enforced by mosaic society, which should clearly be seen as the authority in interpreting this law. The Midrash interpretation here attempts again to apply biblical concepts to contemporary issues, but fails in that it refuses to acknowledge the hypocrisy in its foundation that is very much the same as the one it is lambasting.

Megan Wood Blog #3 (assignment-Film Clips)

Bunny:

The most striking aspect of this Pixar short is its ability to create and maintain a coherent narrative (and resulting symbolic message) without using a single word. AS we discussed in class, the most powerful symbolic image in the short was the oven. Representing the transition from mysterium to tremendum, the oven, just as cooking is the transformation from one state to another, meant a change from one life to the next for Bunny. While I (as noted in my previous blog posts) would argue that the general mood music as well as the motif melodies in any film piece are key in creating feeling, the sharp close ups of Bunny throughout the short really connected the vier with the feelings the creator meant to elicit: feelings of fear, sadness and nostalgia, and acceptance of/ peace with death. The appearance of Bunny shows that life has been a long one. The transitions from oven walls to beyond this world paired with Bunny's change in demeanor and the subsequent flashback to the old wedding photo creates a feeling of closure.... the viewer understands that she has passed into the next life to be with her husband once again.

Northfork

There was a lot of striking, conflicting imagery in the clips we viewed from this film:
1. While the missing wall in church design paired with the amazing view during the church service made the viewer feel closer to God, the fact that the wall was indeed "missing" and the church on stilts created a dissonant sense of being torn away from the people, from the town (given the narrative background).
2. The image of the crossroads with the cars going in all three directions further created that sense of scattered people; the town's inhabitants giving up and moving away.
3. The coffin on top of the car--even the dead can’t rest as a result of this uprooting of the community of Northfork. Gives the viewer a very disturbing feeling, amplified by the ominous clounds on the mountains in the background.
Northfork weas a great example of the mysterium tremendum.

Paris, Texas

There was a lot of imagery in this film that helped the viewer to commit to certain feelings the director was trying to evoke. From the mountains in the background being representative of those who are talking at the moment (Travis’ mountain being knarled and rough, his brother’s mountain being smoother and smaller) to represent the scope of their inner conflict, to the twisted freeway under which Travis works to repair his relationship with his son and talk about his long gone wife. The most striking imagery was during Travis’ conversations with his wife in her brothel hotel room: talking to her on the phone represented that emotional distance they were feeling, supplemented by the use of the two-sided mirror in between them. The whole scene created a very real, emotional narrative.

Pink Floyd’s The Wall

This film was all about the evils of technology, and was incredibly symbolically constructed to demonstrate the destruction of ideals and the limits on our freedom. Images related to the destruction of the Church and of religious institutions symbolized the worship of consumer goods. The message from the last clip we watched which was about Pink’s judgement showed rock and roll as having originated as rebellion against dominant culture, yet became an operator of that very system that destroyed our society.

Cabeza de Vaca

Like Apocalypse Now, this film combined the ideals of religion and war with transcendence. The Captain was captured and forced into slavery by the tribes people, only to find out that once he embraced their way of life, he would shun the one he came from that worked to impose religion, take land, and corrupt the lives of the natives he began to feel akin to. If was interesting to see how again one coming to terms with the animalistic, naturalistic tendencies of sacred transcendence clash with the world of the profane. This was best exemplified in the scene where the Captain begins to feel emotioanlly and physically a part of the spiritual healing that took place in the tent.

ReBecca Richardson: Blog 9- personal

I personally like analyzing films and finding the different layers within it, however I worry that we may look too deeply. We risk superimposing our own views, rather than finding what is actually there. I’m not suggesting that we simply watch movies for entertainment (although some films are meant for that). Noticing the deeper levels help to encourage thought and new perspectives, and it’s kind of neat when we make a realization. However if we go into a movie automatically looking for something, then we could find something different from the writers initial intent. We could also make up something and try to make the movie fit around that concept without realizing we have done it.

Watching movies with others help to gather perspectives. For example I watched the movie ‘9’ with my best friend and her boyfriend and then separately with my boyfriend. I saw religious undertones within the film. My best friend and her boyfriend saw political undertones. (They explained why, however I’m not into politics so I didn’t quite get it). My boyfriend only saw the film on the surface. Thus when contrasting perspectives it is interesting to see how different people think.

One’s own background can also playa part in observing films. Going on the ‘9’ example I am a religious studies student, and I found religion in the film ‘9.’ My friends are politically inclined, and they saw political elements. My boyfriend is neither and saw neither. All of us could have been imposing our perspectives and knowledge on the film, and the writers intent may have been nil on projecting any elements that we may think we have seen. The writer could have been chemically induced at the time and this is what came out of his/her head. I think one point we need to know consider when watching films, is to enjoy ourselves; and to not overwork our brains trying to make something work.

ReBecca Richardson: Blog 8- Film

The short Bunny film was interesting. We spoke in class about the symbols of metamorphosis within the film. Going on that note it seems that the metamorphosis was death. The bug that died while looking for the light, found its light in death. The ailments for the older rabbit ceased in death. I’m not sure why the oven was used as a catalyst/trigger for this metamorphosis. Fire is a sign of change however I would have to say that the perspective is pushed onto the oven. I mean that to say the oven as a catalyst because it produces fire, is an example of the audience trying to hard to analyze the film. I understood the overall experience or undertones within the film, such as the lighting was dark and dull, the noises were opaque (and with the fly it was annoying). The end when the bunny dies and she obtains wings shows the relief of ailments, and the cool blue lighting made the scene calm. We the audience cannot say for sure when the transition from reality to the metaphysical death occurred, yet we understand that it occurs. Such as when we saw the bunny go to sleep and then believed that the bunny died in her sleep. This is based on when she awoke she defied logic and followed a supposedly ‘dead’ moth, into an oven. Granted this is a cartoon, I think that particular scene defied logic and physics within the realm of the film. I could also be wrong.

The last film segment we saw I believe was called ‘The Mexican?’ Dr. Redick pointed out the rift on the screen between the esthetic and the captain. It thought it was neat how the captain is pale which shows he does not work outdoor labor. (This also implies he is not physically working to build the church he wishes to resurrect.) He is also fat so he is well fed, and wealthy. In contrast we know the esthetic/ treasurer’s story. He is dark from his travels, and has borne the heat. He is very thin which shows he does not/can not eat excessively. The captain is used to luxury and power; granted by his position, whereas the esthetic is used to going without luxury and forced labor. He has come down to their level of living (albeit not by his initial choice). Those supposed savages/natives live from the land and the sweat of their brows. That one image paused with the rift between the two men, showed us the rift between two worlds. The world with the luxury sought to dominate the assumed lesser beings. The riches for the Natives were found in their faith and not in their resources.

Louisa Andrusko: Blog #3-Reading

In Hosseni’s Religion and Media, Religious Media, or Media Religion: Theoretical Studies, Hosseni raises the question we brought up on the first day of class: Will films ever be sacred? To answer this question, Hosseni cites several arguments by some of the most well-known communication scholars and critiques such as Neil Postman and Marshall Mcluhan. Postman uses the term “technolopy” to explain the monopoly technology has created. The reliance on technology, according to Postman, has developed into some sort of worship, blurring the lines between the sacred and profane. Postman warns, “Because television, by nature is worldly, the integration of [media and religion] would result in turning a holy concept to a materialistic ritual” (67). Television, or technology, cannot offer life’s necessity the way religion can. Postman continues, “The function of television is to support consumerism, only satisfying people’s desires.” If we allow complete interconnectedness between religion and media, “this would result in the destruction of religion and holiness to nonsacredness” (68). The idea that film, or media, would ever be able to explain the profound concepts of religion is impossible, to Postman. Hosseni, on the other hand, approaches the idea of religion in media from a viewpoint similar to that used in class. According to Hosseni, “mediated religion” uses media to achieve religious objectives, ultimate goals, and divine aspirations rather than beliefs of religion. The purpose of religion in film is to cause audiences to not only receive notions of religion and faith, but to question and evaluate them. Mediated religion cannot even attempt to explain the complexities of religion, as Hosseni notes. Because technology is so involved in our everyday lives, the idea of religion intertwining with religion is inevitable. However, one question I do have is what happens when the line between the sacred and the profane blurs? Further, will people ever rely completely on media for religious teachings?

Louisa Andrusko: Blog #2: American Beauty

American Beauty centers around Lester Burnham, a forty year old man estranged from both his wife and daughter. Bored with his life and routine, Lester finds refuge, if not excitement, from a crush on his daughter’s teenage friend. He enters a sort of meditation, similar to the main character in “Office Space.” This break from the mundane routine of his life allows him to see beauty in everyday experiences. It also separates him from the troubles and worries that come with those stuck in the profane. His acceptance of this newfound worldview reminded me of the same transition Phil goes through in “Groundhog Day.” However, unlike Phil, Lester becomes entirely self-centered, partaking in activities that only gives him pleasure
Throughout the film, the theme of beauty and what it consists of. When Lester’s daughter begins to date a young filmmaker, she is intrigued by his continuous search for beauty. When Ricky tells Jane, Lester’s daughter, why he would ever film a dead homeless woman he responds, “Because it’s amazing. When you see something like that. It’s like God is looking right at you, just for a second. And if you’re careful, you can see right back.” Jane responds, “And what do you see?” Ricky says, “Beauty.”
This approach to death as something beautiful and even liberating reminds me of Block’s wife in “The Seventh Seal.” Rather than viewing death as something to fear and avoid, both Ricky and the wife embrace and even welcome death. Moreover, Ricky and Lester are able to find beauty, or meaning, in the everyday chaos of life. However, most of the characters are unable to see the beauty of the mundane and consequently miss it. This film excellently demonstrates the overarching beauty that comes with everyday life and the importance of noticing and enjoying it.

Louisa Andrusko-Film Clips 1-31-2011

1. Bunny:
The curiosity mixed with fear that the Bunny experiences entering the oven can be related to Otto’s mysterium tremendum. While death is the great unknown, its lack of answers often catalysts humans into questioning the meaning of life and consequently what happens after death. I found it interesting that the short film, “Bunny,” was placed on the same disk as the light-hearted film “Ice Age.” The stark contrast confused, as well as intrigued, me. Further, her life is so mundane, or profane, the oven serves as her admittance into the sacred. The oven, a great source of heat, could be symbolic of fire—which often suggests change. Someone brought up the idea that perhaps it was all just a dream, that perhaps the bunny died in her sleep. This reminded me of the Buddhist notion of time and space, or the idea of liberation from time. Was death ultimately liberating for the bunny, because it reunited her with her dead husband? On the other hand, did she truly break samsara? The underlying religious tones of the film contradicted the simple, dialogue-free film, making the audience debate the relationship between tremendum and mysterium.
2. Northfolk:
The shortness of the clip viewed in class made it difficult to make too many course and film connections. While the visual aspects of the film were appealing, one can only guess the symbolism of the film. One of the main themes of the film was nature. The opening scene in which the church is completely open to nature suggests the interconnectedness of nature and religion. The inevitability of change, death and nature, intertwines in the beginning of the film, causing us to assume someone is going to die. As discussed in class, religion plays a profound role in our understanding of life, as well as death. The undignified coffin tied on top of the car lead me to think about death as undignified as well. Even the young, sick boy is not immune from death, nor was the young boy in the Decalogue. Religion can serve as a source of comfort as well as a source of answers. However, attempting to explain religion is like attempting to explain nature, frustrating and inconceivable.
3. Paris, Texas
This film was my favorite of the six clips we watched in class. The relationship between communication and distance was a theme throughout the film, highlighting the different ways in which we communicate and travel. The climactic scene in which the main character is reunited with his wife is complex and emotional. How can two people be so close in space, yet so distant at the same time? He is constantly trying to connect with his wife through different means of transportation (train, phone, car) but cannot break through the “wall” between them. This proves that distance is much more than an empirically measured thing. Moreover, in regards to distance, the main character is continually running into obstacles, or barriers. His concerned brother, the mirror at the brothel are the physical manifestations of the emotional distance between him and his estranged wife. The peaceful nature of the mountains and valley contradicts the main character’s unsettled and restless heart. It’s interesting how he can walk among nature so determinedly, yet be separated from it at the same time.
4. The Wall:
“The Wall” by Pink Floyd clashes religion, music, education and culture through an explosion of imagery and symbolism. While the images themselves are disturbing to say the least, the meaning behind them is much easier to relate to and understand. The idea of the conveyor belt in the education system argues that students are forced to lose their identity, or creativity, in schools. The headmaster as a puppet suggests that it is not him that is creating these laws, but rather those who control schools—the government. Once children graduate, they are bred to become players, or “meat” in the grand orchestra of imperialism and capitalism. The climactic judgment scene uses music to demonstrate the battle between the main character, Pink, and his surrounding culture. However, the idea that we are encouraged not to think for ourselves, or to rebel against social norms, is not something new to young adults. Further, I believe the provocative and outrageous imagery not only demands the audience’s attention, it also demands reflection about the self as well as hegemonic ideals. The revolution by the kids is especially shocking because children are expected to adhere by all rules, especially in the classroom.
5. Cabeza de Vaca:
The intertwining of religion and war reminded me of “Apocalypse Now.” The attempt of the Crusaders to implement religion, and in a way order, was similar to the war in Vietnam. The main character realizes the injustice and cruelty at the end of the film when he sees the imprisoned Native Americans. Further, his varying reliance on faith throughout the film was similar to the different characters in the Seventh Seal. As we follow Cabeza on his journey through captivity to freedom, we see his conflict with nature as well as with God. His inability to defeat, or trick, nature demonstrates the struggle for people to make sense of death as well as a higher being. The drums heightens the intensity as well as anticipation as Cabeza runs from his captures. Further, the back and forth shots between the captured lizard and Cabeza is interesting because it once again compares him to nature. In the end, Cabeza becomes overwhelmed by a sort of power as he heals the man’s eyes. Essentially, Cabeza has given up on the profane and given into the sacred. By doing so, he is accepted and trusted by his captives, making his transition back into the profane even more difficult.

Edward Crews - Blog 1 - Film Clips From 01/31/11

“Bunny” was a little surreal, but altogether, an interesting little film. The montage did an interesting job of portraying parts of the story, initially very slow to demonstrate a sort of daily tedium. However, as it rose in aggression, the shots became spaced tightly together to give a feeling of first anger, then fear. The long, slow scenes brought it down again, slowing the mood to a pleasant calm. The most obvious religious theme is that with the oven, the mysterium and tremendum. It certainly had both in spades, manipulating the fear and tension. The oven became a monstrous and unnatural figure, first used as a tool of death when the rabbit destroyed the bug and then channeled into a tool of transcendence. The parallels to suicide exist, but honestly, I think it was more to build tension, to accentuate the tremendum with an icon of death. The other meaning, as discussed in class, of the oven as a tool of transformation won out, giving it a more pleasant message with the bunny joining her dead husband at the end.

Questions: was it more likely the oven was a dream or a vision? What would it mean if it was one or the other? Could the bug be associated with other classical spiritual messengers, like Gabriel or spirit guides?

“Northfork” had a much different approach to montage and mis-en-scene, the former intricate while the latter is sort of simple. The buffalo were … well … buffalo. They gave a certain feel for the natural and the sacred, as they themselves are natural. However, the situation they’re put in also represents the current state of the sacred in regards to the events of the movie. The scene, at least from where I sit, with more rich symbolism and demonstration of using montage to create meaning was that of the church spliced with the characters driving away. The shots themselves, looking back, were uninteresting. However, the way they were put together creates a connection between the natural, although unsettling, view given from the church with no back and the migration of the doomed town. It highlights the interaction of the sacred and profane, although it does this in a way that sort of beats the audience over the head with it. The preacher’s sermon, given the backdrop of the mountain, provides a clear sacred order in place, one that is of a greater understanding and peace. The situation of the movie, however, is contrasted as the profane order by the bleak shots of those fleeing. In them, the audience sees a darkness to the nature of the evacuation, that it is of something completely of this world and absent larger meaning. The shots merged with each other pull these together, giving the viewers a sense of this in a very direct fashion. I’m not sure how I felt about it, a little put off by the blunt nature of it, but I certainly can’t deny that it did it well.

Questions: could the mountain behind the church be establishing nature as sacred? Does the traveling, which must be done in cars, have anything to do with portraying the profane? What are some things the sick boy could represent?

“Paris, Texas” was my favorite by far. I loved the approach, I loved the imagery, and the pervasive bleakness was designed with a clear purpose. The shots of the main character traveling across the desert certainly do a good job of establishing tremendum by showing the vast emptiness of nature around him. This is, for good reason, a frightening thing for most. However, as it progresses, this takes itself to all things. The background when he stands outside appears huge and intimidating, rarely peaceful, to show his separation from calm. He constantly travels outside along train tracks, phone lines, and roads while in the city, he does the same thing with the vastness of the highway behind him rather than mountains. His dissonance to all things remains even after his trials and finding his wife, apparently finding little to no solace. Maybe this changes throughout the film, though in those parts, he seems pretty struck down. In this, there is a hint of the sacred and the profane, but there is an even larger point of the transcendent as wholly other. The main character is constantly cut off, constantly separated from anything that seems bigger or wiser than an empty wilderness with nothing for him or an urban jungle absent meaning. I thought it was very engaging, especially his interaction with his wife in which he seems both mentally and physically distanced from her by his absence and the glass.

Questions: does the protagonist ever find belonging in the movie? Could his disconnect with his wife hint at any other kind of a disconnect?

I honestly don’t even know where to being with “The Wall.” Yes, it’s rich with symbolism, but it’s also just insane and constantly mutating and disturbing. So, off the bat, mysterium and tremendum are well-established. The beginning is fraught with surreal, violent imagery, such as the steel plane-bird that cuts the earth and turns into a building, the skeleton soldiers, and the bloodied cross. It moves on with, more or less, terrifying and dark imagery and no hints of the positive. The constant darkness only serves to make the movie more surreal, such as the flowers that are then lovers, that are then fighting beasts. That, however, is more akin to the faceless children being ground into meat or the schoolchildren rebelling against their institute in an act of total destruction. The both of these things show an absence of the transcendent and the prevalence of the profane. Through these things that are happening, all sacred is ripped asunder and anything of greater meaning is long gone. While the whole thing is like shoving your mind through a rainbow blender, the theme of disconnect is shown eloquently in the transitions and how they bond to one another. The shifts of one thing to another are pretty seamless, even when, like in the first-mentioned scene, they all take place staggered over each other. The non-cartoon scenes like those with both sets of children use a similar strategy to “Bunny” in that they become more frantic and chaotic as they go on. Odd as it was, it was fairly well-done and I might actually go see the whole thing just to see where it goes.

Questions: WHAT?! Also, is there any hope of the transcendent or holy in this symbolism? What is the exact function of the judge being a pair of legs and a crotch? Is the chaos meant to be superior to stifling order, or just another negative alternative?

“Cabeza de Vaca” had some interesting moments. The scene where they were running and being attacked while their priest walks away with the cross has quite a bit of symbolism. The foreign sacred order is persistent while the rest is torn away and destroyed or captured. The captivity of the main character in this leads to his attempt to escape leads to his understanding of his sacred order. In resisting this, he is lead to the circle with the lizard, showing how he only draws himself deeper as he now has no choice. The cuts between the ceremony with the lizard and his fleeing connects his panic to the sacred layer underneath. The following that focuses on his face specifically represent in this between state, as well as the panic he feels. In regards to order, he has been removed from the profane by his capture, but not yet a part of the sacred. The shots focusing on him specifically are just as relevant when he does come to understand the sacred during the healing scene. His fascination and fixation on the task at hand show that he is coming to know what is going on. The most clear example of this separation, however, is in his discussion with his superior officer, who is set on razing the area in question to continue expanding. I think a lot was lost in seeing only a few scenes, probably a lot more of the complexities between the metaphors. Either way, it gets the point across clear enough as well as having a clearly-established profane and sacred order, not unlike “Apocalypse Now.”

Questions: is there any event or shift that signals the protagonist’s movement into the sacred? Does his reluctance have any greater purpose or is it just resisting change? Does the conquistador at the end that the protagonist argues with have any positive motivations or is he corrupt? Is there any symbolism for the protagonist’s hair? (not a joke, I believe it changes throughout the film, but stays constant once he becomes ingrained in the native culture)

Film Clips from 01/31/11 class

Bunny:
I liked this animated short. It made me chuckle, made me smile. But to be honest, I completely missed the boat when it came to the discussion at the end of the class. I understood that “Bunny” was dying as she headed toward the light in the stove. (Which I thought was a pretty messed up symbol for death considering that is a way many commit suicide.) At first I was confused when the oven was lighting up like it was coming to life. And as Bunny entered going towards the light with the bugs, (angels) it felt dream like. As for the overall meaning of the stove, being the hearth of the home and life, I understood that during the discussion, but it was lost on me during the film. I thought there was some meaning to be taken from the annoying fly becoming the guiding angel (that we can gain help from unexpected places), but, overall, maybe I was not perceptive enough when it came to this short.
North Fork:
Of all the movies that I saw Monday night, this is the one I would like to go back and see the entire thing. The clip we saw gave me a very haunting feeling. The moving of the town caused pieces being taken away piece by piece had the church standing with no back. The resulting frame of Nick Nolte’s characters preaching with the mountains framed in the background gave the scene a very holy and haunting feeling. It is kind of like what we have been reading with the tremendum experience. What can give more power to a sermon than having “God’s Amphitheater” of the Rockies as a backdrop? The quiet car drive with the coffin on the top was also very touching. Not only do the people have to leave the valley for the progress of a world getting ever smaller; but even their dead cannot find peace. It is sad imagery indeed.
Paris, Texas:
We saw a lot of clips from his film. The beginning was very striking with the scenery, the solitary man walking in the desert in his out of place suit and red cap. It definitely conveyed the feeling of being lost and loneliness. The music also had a great affect, at first it reminded me a lonely western, where the saloon doors swing back and forth as the protagonist walks in. But it took on a much sadder meaning as the scene progressed. I also really liked the series of exchanged between the ex-wife and man communicating awkwardly through the mirror at the bordello. You could feel the tension coming through the screen. IT was also very eerie how the faces were imposed on each other. It was a merging that the main characters could never truly experience. (Or maybe they did in the end; I will have to watch this one all the way through as well.)
The Wall:
This group of clips was the most entertaining here. I love Pink Floyd’s music, but never have seen the movie. So unfortunately, the music did not mean so much to my experience because I was so focused on the visuals. The music kept my tows tapping though. There was a lot of emotion conveyed by the animated clips we saw in how the eagles turned into crosses and then how the flowers turned into kind and then violent love makers. I loved the symbols that came from my favorite Wall song, Another Brick in the Wall. I had never seen it all the way through, and the action fits the words perfectly. The video shows how society tries to form children into a model that can perform in an industrial world just as another tool, and not an individual that has its own thoughts and emotions. I was, to be blunt, grossed out by the kids be ground into meat. I understood after Dr. Redick explained how the children were being turned into fuel for society, and it is here where the grossing out that I experienced can be seen as necessary and not an accidental distraction from the point of the song. The horror I felt was therefore intentional. This was I think meant to make the audience have the same horrid feeling about stripping the youth of their freedom and individuality.
Cabaza de Vaca
This film is another one of those I would like to see all the way through (history nerd when it comes to the early European Settlement of America) I remember learning that de Vaca became a healer and moderating voice for the indigenous population, but how it was portrayed in the movie gave the story an entirely new dimension. The first clip I want to talk about is the frantic clip of de Vaca trying to escape. The music of the drums and the panic of de Vaca as he ran and the movement of the camera that followed him really added to the tension and then desperation when he accidentally ran back into camp and had an understandable mental breakdown. His desperation and almost crazed resignation was transmitted beautifully through the screen.. The scene in the hut where de Vaca also healed the other Indian was very dizzying how the cameras point of view changed. It also had a very primal feel. While some might complain about the dizzying effect from the camera changing to de Vaca’s point of view, I think the director meant to make the viewer feel a bit disoriented the way de Vaca was as he went into an odd trance. When de Vaca was rescued, the order that comes from the scenes with the Spanish is also, I believe, intentionally off putting. It snaps you out of the previous state of mind that the middle of the movie put you in. This change of pace also displayed a permanent choice by the director to draw the sharp contrast between the societies and their ways of thinking, especially about religion.

Whitney Hendricks- Flim Clips

Bunny-
This Pixar animated short clip was probably my favorite out of all the clips we watched. I thought it was easy to understand and there was a great significance to the meaning behind it. The narrative of the clip had a great deal of religious symbols and hidden meanings. Although there were no words, the plot was very clear. I could tell that the bunny was very sad and lonely, because of the way she was sitting around and the picture of her and her husband on the wall, who likely deceased. She is in the kitchen baking a cake, being bothered by a pesky moth. While she is waiting for her cake to finish baking, she falls asleep. She is woken up by a light coming from the oven and follows the moth into the light. Here we saw the bunny surrounded by many moths, to me they were the symbol of angels. The oven is a very powerful symbol in this clip. An oven is used to cook food, changing its chemical state, in the bunny’s case, changing her from a bunny to an angel. She seems very frightened of the oven at first, also of death, but she then begins to accept it. I thought that this clip was unlike many of the other Pixar short clips, it had more of a gloomy story but contained a lot of meaning.

Northfort-
I also thought this clip was interesting. Some of the meanings seemed clear but perhaps I would have understood them more if I had seen more of the movie. The clip starts off in a very small church, looking at the congregation from the priest’s point of view. The view then shifts to the congregations view, they don’t only see the priest but the beautiful scenery outside. It seems that the view makes the people feel connected and gives them a sense of freedom, but in actually they probably feel disconnected because they have to leave their town. The next scene is of a cross road with a bunch of mailboxes, symbolizing the different paths people take in life. In the third scene there was a really interesting image of a boy running, layered with buffalo running in the opposite direction. I felt like this showed the boy rebelling and not following the herd. In the last scene we viewed from this movie was of a car driving off with a coffin strapped on top. In my opinion this is not a very sacred way to move the dead. The setting was very gloomy, definitely set the mood.

Paris Texas-
This was the probably longest clip we viewed, and I started to loose interest after the man left the desert. It started off with a man, named Travis, wearing a dirty suit and tie in the middle of the desert. My first thoughts were “why is he there”? He looked like had had just been dropped out in the middle of no where. Travis starts to walk, later finding out that he is following the telephone lines rather than walking along the road. This is interesting because later in the movie his only communication with his wife is through a telephone. The place where she is working is also very interesting, a kind of brothel where she can’t see her customers, but they can see her through a mirror like window, talking through a telephone. There was a really cool scene while Travis and his wife are talking where his reflection overlaps her face, kind of makes a connection even though they are still talking through the phone. Towards the end of the clip, he wants her to see him so he tells her to turn the light off, something you don’t usually do when trying to see someone better.

Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”-
This clip was really disturbing yet quite creative. While I was watching it I kept thinking, “Who in the heck thinks of this stuff”? Well, clearly Pink Floyd does. There were many meanings and symbols shown in this film though. The most understood part of this clip was the kids in school. They all started off as individuals, went on the conveyer belt and ended up faceless, they had no identity. I think that this is completely false, I feel like there is individualism in schools. On the other hand, it may be different in Europe than it is in America. A part of the film that I found to be very gruesome was the scene of the flowers turning into apparent provocative sex symbols. The image of the flowers however was used to symbolize love hate sex acts.

Cabeza De Vaca-
This clip was about a man names Nunez fighting for his freedom. We see him escaping and running as fast as he can. We then see the sorcerer doing a ritual, and then Nunez come back to him. If I remember correctly he said something that was pretty powerful, along the lines of “I have a God, even though I am lost I have more of a world than you”. He clings to what he knows, his faith.

Deanna Yurovich - Blog #3 - Art History

This semester I am taking an art history course that starts in Italy in the 14th century. This time period has a lot of religious pieces and being Roman Catholic a lot of them seem very powerful to me. One that my professor told us about is called the Holy Trinity by Masaccio. This piece is 22 feet tall and 10 feet wide. It shows Jesus on the cross with Mary and John at the bottom. God and a dove, the Holy Spirit, are shown behind Jesus’ head. The audience, or us, would view this piece from the very bottom where the skeleton is. It towers over the audience and leaves people in a state of awe. This piece shows Christ as the Savior on the cross. Mary, his mother, is shown looking at the audience.

This piece leaves the audience in a sense of awe and tremendum. Tremendum is that feeling that there is something greater than them. It can be best described as walking into a massive cathedral and feeling it engulf you. This piece is so large and shows such a touching scene from the story of Jesus. People look at this piece and think “He did that for me.” This feeling is one that I have experienced just in seeing and hearing about this fresco, I can only imagine seeing it in real life.

Deanna Yurovich - Post #2 - Black Swan

Recently I went to see the movie “Black Swan” with my roommate. I had heard a lot of different things about this psychological thriller, I was not sure what to expect. What I saw was a movie with amazing symbolism and shots that shows this transformation between a calm, sweet, graceful dancer to a racy and crazy dancer. This movie takes the concept of the ballet Swan Lake to a whole new level. The transformation of Nina, the white swan, to Nina, the black swan is amazing. The film uses black and white to show how she is making her transformation and who is helping her in this transformation.

She starts out by wearing white leotards while in practice and is the prim, proper, and perfect dancer who has been following the rules since day one to try and get to be number one. Her dance teacher wants her to be more unpredictable. She ends of getting the swan princess due to biting her teacher when he starts to kiss her. The only problem with her dancing the two parts is that she is not “seductive” enough for the black swan; she is still too much of a goody two shoes. Many shots in the early part of the film show Nina with bright lighting, while her teacher or the other dancer played by Mila Kunis is shown in dark lighting.

Other than the lighting, Nina is shown with skin changes. There are normally bumps all over her skin that in my opinion symbolizes her transformation into the black swan. As the story goes on, Nina begins to wear grey leotards and even her eyes turn red during the black swan performance. Her transformation has actually taken place in front of our eyes. This movie has some of the best symbolism with black and white that I have seen in a long time. While it is somewhat disturbing at points, it is a great movie and one that probably needs to be watched again to really understand it all. :)