Reaganite Cinema

In the 1980s to 1990s the hustle and bustle of everyday life felt too much for any American to withstand. Many people looked back to the 1950s where life seemed too simplistic to even be real. Back then people only had to worry about work or the family and things didn't become much more complicated. Whether or not this stereotype is actually correct, theaters picked up on this profound interest and produced several unique movies. People would later dub this movie genre the Reaganite Cinema.

In the famous Back to the Future (1985) movie, a young boy named Marty (played by Micheal J. Fox) accidentally travels back in time and disrupts his parent's relationship, causing them to not get married. In order to save himself from fading out of existence, he's forced to interrupt the 1950s and reunite his parents. The docile world that they come from almost seems alien to Marty. This time period and alienation he receives, is symbolic of a parents inability to understand teenagers and what they go through. At the end of the film his visit to this utopian past does more then just cement his existence, all of his family struggles and financial problems are now gone.

Like many of the politicians of the time, movies in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries gave extremely high focuses on rejuvenation from past experiences. By going to or learning from people in the past, many Americans felt they could fix their modern day problems. Although this seemed like a valid solution it was more of an escapist reality to not deal with modern day issues many people had never faced before. The movie Cocoon (1985) approached this issue and stated that the rejuvenation people were looking for should be spiritual and not physical (which many people wanted), because a physical rejuvenation won't change anything.

Indy Films: Donnie Darko

Although American films have changed, fluctuated, and created new medias/genres, they have kept a consistent flow. The area of movies to brake this consistent cycle have become known as independent films. What an independent film is varies from person to person and critic to critic. But one thing they all have in common is a break of the normal Hollywood Studio production. One of the most famous independent films in recent years has been Donnie Darko by Richard Kelley.

Like most indy (independent) films, Donnie Darko wasn't successful upon it's original release. The film was considered a flop and practically nobody went to see it. But thanks to the Internet and recent rise in interest with indy films by critics, the films DVD sales slowly rose over several years. Like many underground films in recent years, the movie has a sense of cinematography and creativeness rivaled only by the film noir generation. Many films like it have altered how larger box office pictures are done, newer movies now tend to take the deviant movie approach of experimentation. Now on the market we have more films like this then ever.

If you haven't seen Donnie Darko, Eternal Sunshine in the Spotless Mind, or Mirriormask, I highly suggest heading over to amazon.com or your local Internet movie provider to grab a copy/copies. These films all have elements rarely seen up until a few years after their releases, where major movie makers started adapting their ideas. Indy films have also grown in popularity thanks to the Internet (youtube.com especially), because it allows people to more easily view films not controlled by the mass media.

Donnie Darko Trailer

Counter Culture

In the 1960s, American cinema was at it's all time low attendance. Hollywood was pouring more money then ever into films and getting the least bang for buck known to man. A few films were slightly successful, but overall the film industry was dieing and television was still consistently growing. Deciding to take a risk with an experimental film, Columbia pictures would distribute the most successful film seen in years.

Dennis Hopper's Easy Riders was extremely experimental (therefor risky), but even cheaper too make. It would become an immediate success since it was geared towards a younger generation that no films had targeted. Previous films were marketed to older generations and companies hadn't thought of selling their products with younger crowds. The film was an amazing success and Hollywood discovered the potential of kids backed by the International Bank of Mom and Dad. It was an untapped gold mine that future generations of marketing and massive corporations would follow. Since the films were so cheap many other movies would quickly follow suite.

Today Easy Riders is still considered one of the greatest breakthrough films. It approached issues in society relevant to a younger generation, in a way that had never been done before. It also saved the theaters and production studios from having to close. People today are now seeing a similar occurrence with independent films on the market.

Hollywood in the Age of Television

For a long period of time, movie theaters ruled what the public saw with an iron fist. But the innovation of the first commercial televisions in the 1930's changed how the public interacted with the media. For one fee you could purchase a television and never need to leave your house except for work and food. This meant that people didn't have too go to the theaters every week and fork over more money. Although Hollywood realized great financial possibilities lied in showing films on the TV, they also noticed the major problems it would pose.

Televisions originally had extremely small screens that made it impossible to fit any motion picture onto it. Because of this, many films had to crop their images down and cut out part of the picture. Towards the 1960s and 1970s televisions started catching up with movie pictures sizes but didn't use a widescreen format, causing the edges to be cut off. Widescreen formats have been standardized for movies since the 1930s, but just recently (2000) started airing for televisions. Another technological advancement over time has been the creation of standardized televisions. Like computers the original televisions had parts you could walk into a store and buy to fix your TV. As time went on the parts became more standardized and integrated because of the reduction in price manufacturing and maintenance.

Today's TVs sound so much more like computers then the ones we use. Perhaps as time progresses people will find that television slowly catches up with the cinemas. TVs currently aren't too far behind their technology, maybe they will surpass them in the future.

Shadows, Street Lights, and Confessions

One of the most common forms of narration in film Noir (French for black film) is the main character telling their own story. This is sometimes done by talking directly to the audience. In Detour (1945) the main character speaks to the audience as if they perceive him as the villain. This mellow approach gives the audience the idea that he is possibly only a victim in the situation, and not the criminal he's perceived to be. Less direct approaches can be seen in Double Indemnity (1944), where a man begins the film by talking into a recorder. This helps to give the audience a third person perspective of the film and discombobulate their perception of reality. The film ends where it begins by continuing on after the man's confession is complete. Many modern day films have adapted these narration techniques and use them quite frequently. A few of these films are The Prestige (2006) and Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club (1999).

At the beginning of The Prestige, a man is drowned in a tank during the final act of a performance. It just so happens that his adversary is caught behind the stage and is expected to have killed him. The plot line then becomes extremely choppy and discombobulated as scenes mixed with random thoughts and memories come to life in a non-sequential order. As the story unfolds and the plot begins to make some coherent sense, it approaches the movie's opening scene. Through this mechanism we see the director able to better manipulate reactions from the audience.

Jack talks to himself, throughout all of Fight Club, this man truly makes you ponder his sanity. Most of his nights he spends thinking about sleeping (suffering from Insomnia) and going to meeting for drug and sex addicts because they boost his self-esteem. He narrates the events throughout the movie by talking to himself (or perhaps your supposed to be his subconscious interpreting events). This method of storytelling makes Jack an unreliable source of information for events because you can obviously tell he's insane. Eventually the author uses this shortcoming to throw in a literary twist, (which I won't ruin) I've never seen before in movies.

Throughout many modern day films we can see the older black and white films leaking through. Some of what may seem extremely original, then becomes not so original when you understand its origins. The film the prestige takes many of its discombobulated narrative techniques from the film Noir genre. Fight club also uses these tweaks with Jack telling the story from the end to the beginning as a reflection in his conscious. Through a better understanding of the original films, we better grasp the usage and development of them.

The Prestige Trailer

Bake a Cake!

Throughout the history of war movies, women have played unique and interesting roles. You might think though that it would be odd for a women to play a major role in a war movie and films like Black Hawk Down (2001) and Saving Private Ryan (1998) heed little or no attention to them. Interestingly the movies that do concentrate on women's roles in war films treat them solely as hurdles that need to be overcome in order to obtain absolute masculinity, or a threat to victory. I should add though that not all war films with women take this perspective, but many do (many films have also portrayed them as healers also).

When the main character in Jarhead (2005) thinks about his girlfriend and the time he can spend with her after his tour of duty is over, it motivates him to finish his tour of duty. But when disaster strikes and she hooks up with another man back at home, he feels as if life itself has abandoned his own body. His girlfriend is symbolic of everything he mises at home (friends, family, and security), without her he has now completely ascended his training and is no longer a slave to his desires back at home. In the film Pearl Harbor (2001) a completely different occurrence happens when two best friends find that they love the same girl. This builds animosity and distrust between the two. In a circle of aggression and hatred one character eventually dies and its not the girl. One of the two friends dies so that the others can live happily ever after, a morbid ending but symbolic of whether the things we fight for are really worth it.

Throughout many war films, women sadly seem to get a bad rap. This is primarily because of the anti-feministic mentality that military service takes. When you go into the army you don't bake cakes and read Shakespeare. You go in too fight for your country and learn to give it your all. Leaving behind things such as desires for love shows a strong sense of dedication for ones patriotism also. Love is not a bad thing, it just become complicated when war is involved.

>_< Pearl Harbor Trailer

The Comedy of Violence

After World War II ended in the 1940s, women had to give back the jobs they had temporarily filled during their husbands leave. This was one of the first major instances in American history where women assumed major work roles equivalent to men. This also marked the beginning of a battle of the sexes in the 1940s where women started gaining political power. The slapstick movie genre reflected this tension by pitting the two against each other in extremely aggressive roles. Sometimes the characters depicted in these films would perform shocking acts that many people thought oddly comedic during their time.

One of the most well known slapstick characters comes from the film The Lady Eve (1941). Throughout the movie Jean Harrington (played by Barbara Stanwyck) plays a con artist who attempts robbing a young rich man with her scheming father. When Jean falls in love with the man and tries to protect him from her father, her lover finds the truth of her identity. In an ironic twist he dumps her and she comes back with another identity she dubs Eve. The character vengefully torments, taunts, and belittles the young man into insanity. To make matters worse his father is fond of Eve and constantly promotes a marriage between the two. This aggressive behavior has other iconic characters such as the destructive Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941), where a couple battles over odd rules and regulations while they live unmarried together in a house. The values these characters display strongly represent many feelings felt by both parties during this time period.

Many of the male figures being abused in the slapstick genre played on male insecurities (possibly that women really were plotting to take their jobs, divorce them, and other unthinkable things of those times). Women would have probably thought that male characters got what they deserved for their actions (which most of them probably did). Since both sexes could go to a film and laugh about these things instead of fight over them, it probably helped the film genres success. Even in today's society where men and womens rights are more equal, slapstick romance comedies, such as Intolerable Cruelty (2003) are still successful. Although the times have changed, it would seem that the subject matters of movies haven't.

The Modern Day Western

Back in the mid 18th century the Western frontier was spreading quickly. Life in these parts was rumored to be marked by lawlessness, gunfights, and thieves. In these dark horizons authors created fictional stories where heroes take law into their own hands to uphold justice or revenge no matter what the cost. This basic element would later give way to the more modern action films such as James Wan's Death Sentence with Kevin Bacon.

Death Sentence opens up in a suburban civilized city where the main character (Kevin Bacon) has an almost perfect family. But one night changed everything when a "lawless" street gang kills his son at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. Deciding to let this terrible crime off the hook because of legal complications, he takes law into his own hands and kills the boy that killed his son. Later throughout the film Kevin Bacon's character becomes more detached from society and more intertwined with the gang lackey that he killed. Eventually guns, bars, and a huge wild west style shoot helps to resolve these conflicts just like the old westerns.

Today many people will tell you that the western genre is pretty much dead. This isn't true because we can see from modern day movies that the genre has mixed and become part of the action series. Although the films might not take place in a desert as empty as the heroes soul, you'll find the setting in the ghettos where even the police are afraid to venture. Other elements stay the same such as bars and shoot outs where viewers get to experience several minutes of massive or individual fire fights.

Death Sentence Trailer

Stuck In the Same Place

When you go to the movies to see films with actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Chuck Norris you expect an action film. The reason you expect this is based upon the actors previous success and the genres they've played. If the star was in a lot of horror films, you would expect the movie their in to be in that genre also. Hollywood calls this process of categorizing actors typecasting and uses it constantly when planning roles for actors.

When it was announced that Jim Carrey was playing the lead role in horror film "The Number 23," people were shocked! The actors name brought to mind comedies such as "Ace Ventura: Per Detective" and "Dumb and Dumber," not horror films. Although he had done a few more mellow roles such as "Eternal Sunshine in the Spotless Mind" and "The Truman Show," audiences were still skeptical of such a different role. This is because his image had been so overly typecasted that it was hurting his chances of expanding his career.

Typecasting is usually harmful to a star's success when they want to try different roles or genres. Although playing the same field has created major success for actors like Will Ferrel, because their movies are stereotyped as being good just because of the actors success in that genre. Actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Owen Wilson, and Mark Hamil have experienced little success though when trying to act in different areas. Typecasting has it's harmful effects, but without it fans wouldn't know what to expect from actors and would hurt the star's persona.

In case you haven't seen it here's the trailer for the Number 23. It felt so weird to see Jim Carrie in this movie that he actually seemed out of place. He did a phenomenal job though.

The Number 23 Trailer

Till Death Due Part

Back in the early years of studio production, stars in silent films would secure acting roles for two or three pictures with every contract. As time progressed and studios became more powerful they started making the contracts for several years instead of several pictures. This demonstrated that the studio itself had gained control over the actors life and was powerful enough to force long term signings with their monopolies. Studios would then use these actors as a resource for whatever films they thought the actor could fill. The contracts were very strict and limited the actors rights, but gave them protection and stability in their career.

When an actor signed onto a studio contract, they couldn't appear in other films by different studios. This guaranteed the studio that they would always have access to certain stars for pre-written parts. Although studios would sometimes rent out their actors for pictures they didn't create. When under contract, actors were also required to maintain a certain code of conduct. It wasn't uncommon for studios to forge fake relationships to cover up violations of this section. Although these contracts may seem quite strict, they guaranteed the actor many benefits.

By operating under contract the actor was guaranteed roles in movies and pay regardless of their career's success. This gave the actor security and the ability to try different roles in films. This way if the film they were placed into flopped they would still be secured into future movies. Although these things may seem great, the weight the contracts pulled on actors was enough to kill someone. They were forced into a hole of dictation by their studio and expected to pull 14 hours, six days a week. Luckily modern day actors usually never have to face contracts like these since the major studios were sued for developing a monopoly. Which took away much of their power over the actors and what films were being released.

The Development of Lighting

Throughout film's advancements in technology, lighting has never lost its place as one of the most important aspects of production. Lighting helps convey characterization, mood, and many other aspects of the theatrical process. Many film critics also claim that the legendary film Citizen Kane wouldn't have been so successful without its amazing cinematography by Gregg Toland. Stars themselves go as far as having their own lighting specialists to make their appearance the best possible. A few of the major elements that make up the lighting in Hollywood are high-key, low-key, and star.

High key lighting uses a large amount of light to illuminate the set and actors. This helps to reduce shadows and make the picture more clear to the audience. By doing so the film creates a more jubilant and upbeat mood thats usually seen in comedies and family films. Companies like Walt Disney usually use these high key lighting elements for all of their children's movies. Their film "The Chronicles of Narnia" primarily used high key lighting since a large portion of the scenes were originally filmed inside of a black out box (equivalent of a gigantic surrounding green screen).

Many films with dark story lines and strong dramatic elements tend to use shadows to depict the mood and personality of it's characters. The film industry refers to these darker sides of lighting as low-key systems. These uneven distributions of light help to set the mood for film genres such as mystery, suspense, drama, noir, science fiction, and horror. A famous shot using this dark lighting scheme from Citizen Kane depicts Kane's shadow towering over his wife Susan during an argument. This symbolically emphasis Kane's dominance over her and the uneven distribution of power in their relationship.

When the audience is unable to distinguish character expressions and features, the audience can get lost in translation. For instance, if you couldn't see that a character was smiling while they said "I hate you" you might interpret it as malice, sarcasm, or flirting. This is where star lighting comes into play. Star lighting singles out particular characteristics by concentrating light on more areas of a person then others. This allows the director to single out areas on characters that help to tell the story better or symbolize some kind of meaning. This form of lighting has also been used to make the stars themselves seem more "luminescent" or lively. This is done by focusing excessive amounts of light on the star to make them shine unrealistically.

The three systems of lighting (high, low, and star) all have their purposes for depicting mood in films. Although the styles all seem different, it would be quite unusual to experience any of these elements independently from another. Although some movies will use primarily high or low key lighting, almost every movie makes use of all three elements. This helps to make a more balanced and interesting experience for the audience.

Citizen Kane (an odditiy of it's time)

The release and production of Orsen Welles' Citizen Kane marked a new era in film history. Before the films release, Hollywood followed a strict style of film editing and acting. This mold would be broken and shattered by the unique aspects the film brought to the silver screen. The picture didn't catch on to the movie industry as an amazing achievement until several years after its release. Today the film is ranked as the British Film Institutes's top movie and heralded by critics such as Robert Ebert as one of the greatest defining films of modern day cinema.

Throughout the film several areas of classic movie rules that were considered "cemented" in Hollywood were broken. One of the largest areas and defining aspects of Citizen Kane was the cinematography. Before the film's release, shots that kept the entire picture on screen in focus were almost unheard of. Lens technology of that time didn't have the ability to properly focus the camera and keep everything clear without fading. To counteract this, the movies cinematographer Gregg Toland would develop composite shots (two shots mixed together) with special coated lenses to create a more overall focused shot. To further this, he used the same technique with different shots to create scenes with multiple layers such as one of Kane's most famous shots of medicine on the counter, Susan sleeping, and the back room wall all in different levels of focus.

By writing such an experimental and different film in a conservative age, Orson Wells was putting his entire career on the line. He had made several other successful movies at this point. But this was the first time that the studio had granted him supreme power over all aspects of a movie. If the movie itself went under, then the rest of his directing career would sink with him. Wells took an even greater risk by basing the movie on America's most powerful man William Randolph Hearst. Shortly after the movies release it seemed that everything that could go possibly wrong was set in motion. Wells career was never as successful but he slowly recovered after several years as did Citizen Kane. It was then that the film suddenly gained public interest and was upheld as a phenomenal picture. Today Orson Wells' movie is considered one of, if not the greatest film ever made by many film organizations, institutes, and critics.

Citizen Kane clip

Foundations of Early Westerns (The Great Train Robbery)

One of the most beloved film genres of the classic American cinema is the Western. These pictures were successfully produced for several decades and have roots that reach out into many modern day movies such as Four Brothers. One of the most unique and first films ever created in this genre was Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery. Upon its release, it was considered one of the most technologically advanced and unique movies of its time. It's basic elements of main characters, narrative, and conflict/resolution may seem typical and unimportant today. But this movie helped to set the standards for all Western and future films throughout history.

When The Great Train Robbery opens the main characters walk in wearing completely black clothing and large hats drooping over their faces. These characters immediately show a strong contrast to the only other man (a clerk) in the room wearing a white and brown business suit. This classic film and novel technique uses coloring to separate the characters into categories of good and evil. The two ominous men quickly engage in unchivalrously behavior by hitting the clerk from behind and tying him up. One of the basic elements of villains in films are their associations with cheating and backstabbing behaviors. As the film progresses these characters slowly sink lower and create a characterization of the villains that the audience can hate. This is one of the first cemented conflicts of good and evil throughout a film.

As them movie follows the two scoundrels robbing and shooting people throughout the train. The audience is told the story through a third person perspective that switches between the good and bad guys. Camera shots don't follow a logical time frame of consistency, but use several angles to create a story. This gives the director more power over the audiences interpretation and reaction to the film. As things progress further the story transfers to another group of people in a separate area that react to the criminals injustice. This narration of multiple plots helps to further engross the audience with a story telling technique never used before.

Throughout the film several conflicts arise and come to an overall conclusion. The film begins with the atrocities of murder and anarchy raised by the villains. They then begin a typical fight of good and evil by battling their way through the train to steal money stored on bored. To counter their actions the townspeople retaliate by taking law into their own hands and eventually shooting the criminals. This conflict/resolution situation is meant to be happy, but simply shooting the criminals doesn't simply serve justice for all of the people they murdered. Although the story abruptly ends here, many future western films attempt to deal with the injustices created by corruption in society.

So you might be thinking "Wow, this information is interesting, but I already know all that!" But the main point here isn't that these are groundbreaking film techniques today, but the first time techniques like this were ever implemented. Future film makers have all used this pieces basic foundation elements (camera work, story, narration, plot, characterization, ect.) willing or unwillingly, to create their films. During its release The Great Train Robber was heralded as one of the greatest films of its time. People who still see it today might not think the same, but that doesn't mean we cannot learn from its success to better understand what we already know about film.

The Great Train Robbery

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