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.
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