This film clip was interesting, mostly because it was named as the best short film of the year. My first impressions of the clip were not too great; however, the more I analyzed and thought about it, the more I understood the reasoning behind it. There were no words in the film, just visuals, and I believe this helped add to the main point of the clip. The main symbolism in the clip had to do with the moth that kept pestering the bunny and the oven in which the bunny was trying to bake a cake. There were several religious undertones in the film such as the moths possibly paralleling angels as they led the bunny to, what seemed to be, the afterlife. In addition, I thought it was interesting how the oven produces heat and heat comes from fire. The Bible actually talks a lot about being “refined by fire” as it is a means of bringing change; usually good change. This might symbolize the bunny's “cross over” from life to death. She was afraid to die, as most people are, but when she began to accept it, it almost seemed as if she wanted it to come. I thought this clip had great parallels to Christianity and it was very interesting to watch with this perspective.
Northfolk:
I did not particularly enjoy this film. It seemed to have religious parallels but I wasn't able to clearly identify them in the short clips that the class was shown. In the first scene we saw, the church (from the preacher's point of view) is just of a regular congregation. However, when the camera angle shifts, we see that what the congregation sees is wide open fields. Perhaps this symbolizes freedom to the people even though they are having to leave the town they love. I think the most interesting scene was when the producer used layering as an effect. It intrigued me that this was done intentionally, but I never pick up on the subliminal message. When the little boy was running in the opposite direction of the herd of buffalo, it may have been trying to illustrate rebellion on behalf of the little boy. I was trying to understand the next clip of the father and son driving away with their deceased wife and mother on the top of their car, but it was just a sad scene in general as this is not a normal activity. It almost seems as if the audience is left to wonder where she goes. People often wonder where they will end up after death, and this is a great illustration of that in a movie.
Paris, Texas:
I thought this movie was the most interesting of all. Perhaps it was simply because the class viewed more large bits of the movie, but I thought it was very interesting. There is much in this movie that the director did purposefully to make a point. For example, the main character in the film is stranded in the desert at the opening of the movie. He comes in contact with a paved road or a dirt road and decides to follow the dirt road because, we find out, that he wants to follow the telephone lines. At the end of the movie, the audience is able to see that the only communication he would have with his wife would be over the phone, so perhaps this is foreshadowing of that. This idea was very interesting to me because he actually was able to see his wife, but still had to talk to her over the phone behind glass. There were several interesting pieces that went into these scenes. At one point, Travis put the phone down and the audience was able to see it through her perspective. The phone is mediated communication between two people and when those people talk over the phone, they are unable to see one another. This is ironic because he can see her and now she can almost see him. He tells her to turn the light off so that she might be able to see him, but that seems backwards. Why would someone turn a light off in order to see better? It actually does work, though, and she says that it was easier for her when she could just imagine him. I thought this part was so interesting and somewhat comical because it almost looked like he was coming out of an imagination bubble above her like in a comic strip. I think this was my favorite of all clips we saw in class.
Pink Floyd “The Wall”:
These clips were my least favorite of them all. I absolutely did NOT enjoy the animated ones because of the promiscuity. The sexual references disgusted me and I did not see the need for them. In my mind, they almost took away from the point of the message because I was so distracted by them. The first clip that was not animated, however, seemed quite tactful. The clip was all about students in school losing their individuality because they go through the schooling program. To a degree, I agree with this. However, I must say that I know a lot of individuals who just went to sccool because they were either told to, or wanted a better education. The clips shows children going through a machine that removes their face, saying that they lose their individuality. It makes it seem as if they can't think for themselves anymore which is, ironically, what education is supposed to do. This just doesn't seem as intense as the clip is making it seem. I believe that I can think for myself even though I have gone through the schooling program and I know plenty of others who can as well. Perhaps it depends on the schooling system and the individual.
Cabeza de Vaca
I think my favorite scene that we saw in this movie was the scene where Nunez finally was able to escape and started running as fast as he could. The sorcerer knew that he had fled, though, and put a spell on him. Nunez eventually ended up running right back to the place where the sorcerer placed him under a spell. Part of me wondered if the sorcerer's use of a lizard ties to a stick stuck in the ground was, in a sense, like God. The sorcerer seemed to have power over the actions of Nunez. As the scene progresses, Nunez gives in to complete helplessness and this is the point of the clip where the audience is able to feel closest to him and his character. As the camera moves closer to Nunez, so does the audience. He ends up in the fetal position, possibly symbolizing the rebirth as in Christianity. It seemed as if there were many Christian ties in this movie and this can even be seen from the beginning with the man who wore a cross around his neck.
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