Women do it better

When I started this last assignment I really wanted to focus on the movie “Water” since it is the movie the sticks out the most for me.  But as I went back to read my blog about the movie I felt like I would be rehashing the same points over again.  This got me thinking about  how  there are a lot of myths, legends, folklore, religious stories etc. that seem to show up over and over again.  Most of these stories seem to be connected by common threads and just told in a slightly different way depending on the culture or the religion.  What I wanted to do was look at a more uncommon myth and see if I could somehow find that story in one of the movies we say and do  my final blog about that. 

As I started to sit down and think about it, I really started going back to my knowledge on Greek  mythology.  I am no expert but it is a topic I find very interesting and to be honest, my husband knows it even better than I do.  I remembered two stories specifically; One about Jason and one about Atalanta.  I had to reread the stories and they both kind of stand very separate from each other but the small way in which they overlap reminded me if the movie “Whale Rider.”  This is my attempt to weave these similarities together.  First let me start by explaining the stories of Atalanta and Jason.

In Greek mythology, Atalanta was a famous huntress.  Her parents were Arcadia and Iasus.  Her parents did not want her and as a young baby, she was abandoned on the side of a mountain to die.  A bear had taken the baby in and nursed her and kept her alive.  Later some hunters had found her and took her in.  She grew up learning how to be an amazing hunter.  Because of this she went on to participate in many male dominated quests. 
 

Atalanta - The beautiful

 

Atlanta - The brave, strong, fast huntress 

 

One of these quests was that she wanted to join the Argonauts.  The Argonauts were some of the very first Greek explorers.  The head of this clan was Jason.  Jason was the son of Aeson who was the king of Iolcus.  Aeson’s half-brother Pelias had somehow gained control of the thrown.  Pelias was made aware that at some point he would be overthrown by a man wearing only one sandal.  Aeson decided to send his son, Jason, away to be educated in Chiron where all heroes go to be trained and educated.  Aeson thought this would be the only way to protect his son from whatever schemes Pelias had come up with to prevent Jason from regaining the thrown.
 

Advertisement for a Movie about Jason and the Agronautes - Who Atalanta wanted to join

 

Once Jason became a man he decided to go back to Iolcus to fight for his place on the thrown.  On his travels back, he came across a Hera disguised as an old woman who requested his assistance in crossing an overflowing river.  Jason did assist her and in the process lost one sandal.  When he arrived in Iolcus Pelias immediately recognized this man with one sandal as the man who was to overthrow him from the thrown.  Pelias decided to agree to giving the thrown to Jason but only when he brought back the golden fleece.  It was believed that acquiring the golden fleece was impossible so Pelias has had thought that he had figured a way to outsmart Jason and his dad and keep the thrown.  However, After many different adventures Jason was able to acquire the golden fleece. 

Both pictures are depictions of Jason once he obtained the Golden Fleece
 

Jason had declined Atalanta’s requests to become one of the Argonauts because he felt that having one woman on board would create jealousies with in the male crew.  After being  turned away and abandoned  by yet another male, Atalanta had a negative view of men.  Atalanta is most known for all she did to avoid marriage.  She decided that if she were to ever marry that her potential husband would have to be faster than her.  If they could not beat her they would be put to death.  She did this by chopping of their heads and putting them on spikes all around the arena. 

Now maybe you have read up to this point and think that I am out of my mind even thinking that the myth surrounding Jason and Atalanta is anything similar to the movie “Whale Rider” but stay with me a little longer and hopefully I can get you to see it as I see it.

If you think about Paikea’s character she essentially embodied both the male and female genders.  On the outside she was female.  She was unworthy of taking on the leadership position her grandfather currently held for their  Maori tribe because of her outer appearance in his eyes.  On the inside, she had what her grandfather was looking for in the young boys that were being trained for the leadership position.    

On one hand, Paikea and Atalanta shared very similar beginnings.  After the grief of losing his wife and son, Paikea’s father left her with his parents.  The grandfather, upset by the loss of the grandson and the fact that his own son will not adhere to the Maori traditions, she is in a sense abandoned.  Paikea’s grandmother will not have it and cares for her and loves her and essentially makes her husband open his heart and accept her as well. 

Paikea ends up an amazing warrior.  She learned the traditions of her tribe and how they fought and was good at it just like Atalanta was at hunting.  They were both athletic.  They both wanted to be a part of a world that was a “mans” world and both were denied because they were female. 

Pia as the warrior

 Atalanta as the powerful huntress/warrior

Paikea does show her manly side like Jason when she decides to go and dive and look for the whale bone necklace that her grandfather threw overboard while on a small boat in the ocean.  He had taken all the boys who were training to be the next leader out on the water.  He then threw in the necklace and whoever retrieved it would prove they were worthy of becoming the next leader.  All the boys failed.  It wasn’t until after the fact that Paikea’s uncle took her out and she dove for it and actually found it.  It was at this moment that Paikea essentially proved herself worthy of becoming the next leader; a place that her grandfather saw only a male heir taking over.

I am pretty sure this is not the myth that the director had in mind when making this movie but I couldn’t help but try and make a case for it being similar.  When I saw this movie the first tie in class I knew it reminded me of a story from Greek myth but I was not sure what I was thinking it was.  After picking the brain of my husband and doing a little research I knew this was what I was thinking.

As I thought about this more I realized that the story of a girl trying to prove herself worthy of a man’s role is nothing new.  In the Lord of the Rings, Eowyn had to disguise herself as a man and rode with Riders of Rohan to the Battle of the Pelennor Fields outside the White City of Minas Tirith in Gondor.  It was in this battle that she faced one of the biggest foes of all, the Lord of the Nazgul.  When they were face to face the witch-king said that no man can defeat him.  In one of the most woman empowering scenes in all of cinema, Eowyn removes her helmet and declares that she is no man but a woman and she does not fear him.  With a little help of a hobbit named Merry, Eowyn was able to stab the witch-king and defeat him.

Eowyn in her battle (women DO kick butt)
 

If you look all throughout literature, history, myth,, folklore, and fantasy there is always stories of a women having to prove herself worthy.  There is always a story of a woman who is not thought to be strong enough to do something that s typically reserved for a man.  I feel that the movie Whale Rider addressed this as well.  Having your grandfather as a the head of the tribe you belong too, stuck in the ways of tradition, Pie only option was to follow her heart and prove her grandfather wrong, that a woman could be the leader and do a great job and is worthy of that position.  This is just another example of how women often times overcome any obstacles to fight for what they feel is right and show the world just how strong they are. 

Pan's Labyrinth - What the........

Pans Lybranth.  I really tried.  I really tried hard to like you.  I tried so hard to find even one little piece of you that I liked, that I could focus on and write about how much I enjoyed this little portion of this movie but it never happened.  I did not like you.  Actually I hated you.  A LOT. 

If there is one movie genre I hate with every ounce of my being it is any type of horror films.  The closest I get to watching a horror flick is the original, silent film Nosferatu.  Watching it is my annual Halloween scare.  I am not a big fan of movies that have a lot of violence and blood and gore either.  Everything about this film was more a horror film to me more than anything else.

The Faun was scary to me.  I have seen images of them in art and books and I never liked them no matter how happy the overall image it was in appeared.  Have you ever taken a close look at a goat or sheep’s eyes?  They are kind of freaky.  In the head of a four legged, furry farm animal, I do not see anything scary.  Those eyes in the head of some mythical creature who hides out in the dark, having young girls go around doing stuff in very scary situations kind of freaks me out. 

Freaky eyes on a CUTE goat

Same freaky eyes on a SCARY goat/human Faun 

 I also did not understand the guy with the eyes in his hand.  I am sure that there is some very deep meaning behind this scene but this thing literally grossed me out that I could barely pay attention to the scene.  I am sure that there was something meaningful behind the three grapes that Ofelia ate and it being a reference to Eve eating the forbidden apple in the garden of Eden but I was so freaked out by hand eye thing that I missed anything else that might have been relevant. 

 

 

This movie did make me think.  It made me think about how young girls are portrayed in stories or movies and it kind of made me mad.  Why is it the young girl is always having to prove something?  Why is it the young girl always has to be saved?  It seems as if from a very young age we are telling girls that they are less; less strong, less smart, less independent.  We are telling them that no matter what they will always need to prove their worth.  At the same time we are pounding into the brains of young boys that they are the better of the two sexes.  They are more sought after, stronger and smarter and will always be the one who comes to the rescue of some poor, weak girl.  It seems that right at birth we pigeon hole the genders into specific roles with accepted children stories and fantasies. 

My husband wants to see this movie.  I think I will watch it again with him to see what I missed and to hopefully change my mind.  I will say that I dread it.  I am not looking forward to seeing it anytime soon but I will definitely give it another go.  It just seems like the right thing to do. 

Bob Dylan's "Hurricane" & Dazed and Confused

So one of my most favorite movies of all times is Dazed and Confused.  I love this movie because it really hits home for me and reminds me a lot about my high school years and growing up. 

 

In this scene the upper class men take the young freshman, after a good ol freshman hazing of being paddled.  The Emporium is a hang out for all the high school kids and the freshman was a bit hesitant going in since he was still on the market for continued hazing.  As they walk in, Bob Dylan's "Hurricane" song is playing.  This song is about an African American boxer who was convicted to life in prison for the murder of three white people.   

 

After corresponding with the boxer, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Dylan felt he was innocent and that is when he wrote this song.  He was convicted for the murders in 1966 for a life sentence, he got a retrial but was convicted again in 1976 and in 1984, the conviction was finally overturned. In 1966 with racial injustices all around Carter was guilty right off the back before his trial because he was black and the victims were white.  

 

 I find the use of this song an interesting choice because the freshman was only guilty of being a freshman which automatically meant he had to go through this hazing of being beaten essentially.  It was as if he had to go through this punishment before he could establish his life as a high school kid. 

 

By no means are these two situations the same or of equal relevance but I just thought it was an interesting use of music for a scene in a movie.

 

 

Get the tissue and get ready for the waterworks to flow while watching "Water"

I saw this film a few weeks ago in my class Bridging the Cultural Gap.  We had learned about the love story between Krishna, a god, and Radha, a milkmaid and childhood friend of Krishna.  They both had an intense love for each other but Radha was forbidden to get involved with Krishna from her brothers.  Behind their backs, she secretly rendezvous with Krishna.  One of these instances they are caught by a priest.  Because Radha had gone against the wishes of her brothers she was considered deceitful ad was brought among the town people to figure out what was to be done.  The town people disowned her and essentially sentenced her to death. 

The question I often think of with this story is Krishna is a god, so more powerful and held in high regard over the priest and the towns people.  Essentially I would think if something made him happy than it would get a free pass so why be mad at Radha?  It appears that the priest and townspeople are jealous of her.  After all she is merely a milkmaid and what right or special attribute does she have that would win the affection of a god’s love?  Or maybe, just maybe this shows that the soul of anyone, no matter who they are can search out god and be safe with them.

Now think about the love story between Kalyani and Narayan.  Narayan is a rich, educated individual who is held in high regard in society.  Kalyani is a widow.  She is an untouchable in society.  Somehow the two find each other and fall in love.  However there is no happy ending because one Kalyani learns that her potential new father in law was a man who hired her for sexual services she realizes she can no longer marry her true love.  Instead she kills herself by drowning in the Ganges river. 

 

There is also a visual aspect that indicates the movie is like an updated version of this famous religious story.  In most pictures of Krishna and Radha, Krishna is playing a flute.  A lot of times he stands with his feet crisscrossed.  There is a scene where it is dark out and Narayan is under a tree, standing with his feet crisscrossed and he is playing his flute.  It is at this time Kalyani shyly visits him one on one.  They talk honestly and their love for one another is both realized and felt by each of them.  Kaylani's soul finally found its peace and safety with Narayan.  It didn't matter who she was, what her history was or where she was ranked in the caste system, she was human and deserved love just like anyone else. 

 

I really tried hard to find a picture of this scene from the movie but was not successful.  Hopefully this image of the Hindu love story will spark a memory of this scene in the movie (just minus all the other people).

 

On a side note; (this is me on my soap box I suppose) I had no indication or warning about the emotional toll this movie would take on me.  As the mother of a young girl who tries so hard to teach her she is just as smart as any boy, just as capable of any boy, as equal and as valued as any boy, this movie broke my heart.  I was crying with in the first five minutes.  to think that this is not far from what is actually happening just made me loose it.  The ending, I lost it even more.  It makes you think how lucky we won the birth lottery of being born in the United States or immigrating here.  Don't get me wrong, equality for women in this country has a long way to go but to see what it is like for females in other parts of the world is truly an eye opening experience to be grateful for what we have here and to fight even harder for that equality for all woman all over the world.  Feminism and the fight for equality should not end with in our countries boarders.  It is even more important to extend the fight to all ends of the earth.

 

So much said in a stare

Tsotsi, AKA David is a young man who is going through an awakening of his soul and conscience and all throughout the movie I am having an internal conflict as to whether I should feel sorry for him or hate him for being so selfish.

The movie starts and ends with an intense look from our main character Tsotsi that sends shivers up and down ones spine but for two very drastic reasons. 

 

In the beginning, Tsotsi is a hardened criminal.  He had a rough life that we really only catch a glimpse of in flashbacks.  He mother was very ill and died while he was young.  His father was a drunk who killed his dog.  In that one fateful evening when his mother was so sick and his father so drunk Tsotsi runs away.  He lives on the streets and learns to survive by whatever means necessary.  He starts to hustle, get in with bad groups and starts to rob, cheat, steal and in some cases murder.  When we first meet Tsotsi he is a young man who is in deep with the gangs.  He has this look of hate, pain, envy, greed and craziness in his eyes as he is looking for his next victim in the bus station.  Once he and his fellow gangbangers find their victim they corner him on the bus.  They rob him and one of the thugs ends up stabbing and killing the guy.

They take off running to a bar.  As they sit there one of the thugs, Boston, who is actually educated, is bothered by the killing.  He starts to talk about decency and where was everyone’s decency if murdering a person was done with no remorse or guilt.  After all, they got what they came for; the killing of this man happened afterward and not necessary. 

All through out Boston’s soliloquy you see Tsotsi staring.  His eyes are still enraged yet you see something change in him ever so slightly.  He now looks bothered and agitated by what Boston is saying.  It is as if it hits someplace close to him and he starts to question his own morality.  All this time he justifies his actions as a way to survive.  Everyone else left him, treated him like crap or never showed an ounce of concern for his well being so he never really had much base for morals.  His motivation was for survival by what ever means evolved into more and more greed.  Now Boston’s words confront him and his lack of morals.  This makes him rather upset.  He beats Boston up severely. 

Tsotsi takes off running.  He enters into a neighborhood that is better off than his shanty town.  It is raining out and a woman pulls into her home but the gate to her garage is not working.  She get s out of the car to ring her the buzzer so her husband can come and get her. 

**SPOIL ALERT**SPOIL ALERT** DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER**

Tsotsi see’s her and decides that he is going to carjack her.  In the process he ends up shooting the woman and the in the long run she ends up paralyzed.

Tsotsi drives the car to a wide open and vacant area.  As he is set to leave the car he hears a cry of a baby.  Unknown to him while he was carjacking this woman, he did not know there was a baby in the car.  Everything that Boston said earlier that evening was coming back to haunt him.  Where was his decency?  Would he go back and get the baby or leave the baby stranded in that car with very little possibility for its survival?

Tsotsi ends up taking the baby with him.  He is no way prepared to take care of a baby but it seems as if there is a deeper moral and selfish obligation that is driving his decisions now.

I got a sense in the movie that Tsotsi, more than anything else wanted to keep that child and take care of it.  At first the decision might have been driven by not wanting to get caught but it developed into something more.  It was as if he wanted to take care of that child in a way he thought his own parents should have taken care of him.  He wanted to prove to himself and to everyone else who looked at him as a poor excuse for a human; a low life thug, that he was capable of having more depth and responsibility than just following the moral code of the streets.  He wanted to prove to Boston and others that he did have decency.  For the rest of the movie you see Tsotsi force his way into peoples lives in the typical thuggish ways but they all had the purpose now of helping this baby. 

In the end, Tsotsi sees outside himself.  He realizes that he is not capable of taking care of this child.  He also realizes that the child has two very loving and capable parents, something he never had.  He takes this and realizes that he will never be able to offer the emotional support and stability that he lacked in his own upbringing.  In the end, he sacrifices himself in order to return the baby to his parents.  In this exchange we are brought back to a very intense stare from Tsotsi but something is very different than from the beginning of the movie; this time there is compassion, humility, honor, dignity that are shining through the pain and the tears.   It is at this point I realize he learned to not be selfish but to be humble and accept that a person can not change their past but they have complete control of their future.

 

Duh another iconic transition

 So as I was thinking more about some real stand out transitions I realized I missed probably one of the most famous ones of all time:

 

  How could I have possibly passed up this scene?  The use of black and white film indicating everything before she ends up in Munchkin City is genius in my opinion.

For a film from 1939 I think this was an amazing depiction of a unique transition, done with out special effects.  It is still, in my opinion, one of the most stunning visual movies ever.  There are not many newer, current films from today that can even compete.  And that says a lot since directors have all the bells and whistles for new technology at their fingertips.  

This got me thinking about why I am drawn to older films.  To me, it takes real talent to invoke a feeling, get a point a cross and make the viewer really a part of a film where they are so entranced by what is going on, at the end they felt like it happened to them.  I almost feel this was done better prior to all this technology.  I feel as if directors get so consumed by the technology that it becomes the main focus and it distracts from the movie.  I mean I tend to think I am fairly intelligent and I do not mind being made to think or even connect two dots in order to understand a story being played out on screne.  However, with all this use of technology there is no more of a challenge on the the behalf of the director to have to do something different or unique. 

Take for example this scene from Alfred Hitchcoks "Notorious:"

There is a nice dissolve transition but on top of that.  The shot really makes the viewer experience the hangover Ingrid Berman's character is feeling.  I love how the shot shows Cary Grant's character entering the room and what it would look like from Ingrid Bergman's perspective from laying on the bed.  It also gives the viewer a very dizzying sensation which is just perfect for a scene in which a person is hung over.  (How many of us know that dizzying feeling?!?!?)

Cary Grant is my favorite male actor while Ingrid Bergman is my favorite female actress and Hitchcock is just a genius in my opinion. 

 

 

Down the Rabbit Hole

 

I was sitting with my daughter watching Alice in Wonderland when a big light bulb went off and hit me upside my head.  This has got to be one of the best transitions scenes I can think of.  What a better way to transition from the reality of Alice's real world to the crazy world of wonderland then to have her fall down some crazy abyss in which her dress plays a parachute and slows her down enough to take in all the wild things passing her by. 

My husband and I have gotten into weird conversations about parallel universes and this to me is the insight into what that means for Alice.  I wonder if I came across the rabbit hole if I would want to venture down it and see my own parallel universe?  Would you?

Featured Blogger for the Whale Rider

The movie Whale Rider directed by Niki Caro, shows the conflict that arises between traditions versus modernism, young versus old and men versus women.  The historical attributes of the Maori culture contributes greatly to these conflicts.   You have two main characters in this film; Paikea, also known as Pia, who is a young Maori girl and Koro, Maori tribe leader and Pia’s grandfather.

According to this tribes legend their existence can be traced back a thousand years to a single ancestor named Paikea.  It is believed that he was able to escape death by riding on the back of a whale.  It was also believed that the first born males of the tribe chiefs were a direct descendant of the original Paikea.  This would also mean that this first born male would become the new leader of the tribe.  Since it was Koro’s oldest son, Porourangi whose wife and son died, there was no longer a line of leadership.  Koro wants his son to toughen up and get over it, find a new wife and have a son.  Instead, Porourangi leaves for Germany, leaving Pia with her grandparents.

At first, Koro was angry that his grandson had died and didn’t even acknowledge his granddaughter.  However, as timed passed, you do see that love has bloomed between Koro and his granddaughter.  This love does get challenged when Pia expresses an interest in learning more about the culture, traditions and indicates that she believes she can be the next leader.  Koro can not accept this since she is a girl.  Tradition does not allow females to take on the leadership role for the tribe therefore he gets upset at his granddaughter for even thinking this.

Koro decides to recruit the young boys in the village and train them in the old ways in hopes of finding a new leader.  It all comes down to a boat ride in which Koro throws out his whale bone into the ocean and which ever of the boys returns with it will prove that he is the new leader.  When none of them come back with it Koro feels as if he is a failure in finding a new leader for his people.  He also starts to place blame on Pia for this.

***SPOILER ALERT***TURN BACK NOW IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE YET***

One evening there is a special program in place that deals a lot with the music and history of the people of the village.  Pia asks her grandfather to come.  As a surprise to everyone, Pia wins an award for a speech about her grandfather and they love and challenges they have.  In this speech she talks about how it might be better to share the traditions with all regardless of their gender so all can carry the burdens and triumphs.  Koro misses this because as he was leaving, he noticed that there was a large whale beached on the shore near his house.  He goes out to investigate only to see more.

Eventually the whole village learns of what happens.  They all end up on at the beach trying to help get the whales back into the ocean.  Koro is working with the biggest whale on the beach.  Pia comes over to try to help but he yells at her not to touch.  He blames her for this happening.  Soon everyone leaves the big whale but Pia stays behind.  She climbs on the whale and is able to get it to move back out into the ocean.  Just than, her grandmother sees this.  She starts to call out for her.  The grandmother than takes the whale bone that Pia retrieved and gives it back to Koro advising him that Pia is the one who got it.  He now realizes that Pia is the intended leader and her gender does not matter.

 

What I loved about this movie is that the traditions and the importance of the men is expressed in a very typical way; men are strong, born leaders – no way a women could do what they do.  In reality, it is Pia who shows she has so much more strength then any of the men in her village.  Koro’s love was something Pia had to fight so hard to get starting from when she was a baby.  By challenging her grandfather, she jeopardized all that time spent building that loving relationship.

I also love how all the older women, especially Pia’s grandmother were essentially rebels.  They allowed the men think that they were in charge but in all reality, the women were the ones in charge.  They were the backbones of the families and the village.  They allowed the men to be in charge of the traditions but the women were the ones teaching life lessons that allowed the tribe to survive.  With out them it is possible that the tribe would have vanished.  And make no mistake of it, when Pia’s grandmother spoke, Koro and Pia listened.  She could be very hard and strict but also be the warm, nurturing figure everyone needs to have in their life to survive.  To me, she was the best of both worlds.  She was bold, she was honest, she was gentle and full of wisdom and she could put grandpa in his place whenever it was called for.

I pose these few questions to you all; do you think Pia’s grandmother was always strong?  Or was it the birth of Pia and the constant struggle she witnessed her go through to gain the love and acceptance from her grandfather that made grandma feel more confident and empowered to stand up to Koro and the traditions of the Maori?  Do you think Koro actually saw the leadership skills in Pia but was too consumed with tradition to allow her to prove herself?  Since Koro was the tribe leader, do you think he could have just appointed Pia as the new leader if she did prove herself or was there something more holding him back?  I know there is much discussion at the end of the movie whether Pia and Koro die or not.  If they did not, and Koro discovered that his sons pregnant girlfriend was carrying a boy, do you think he would have continued to acknowledge and train Pia as the new leader or would he post pone or cancel it all together since there was a boy now entering the family?  Do you think Koro was convinced gender did not really matter for the traditions of the Maori?

 

This scene is one of the first scenes in the movie "Citizen Kane" by Orson Wells.  Just prior to this scene Wells character Charles Kane has just died.  In this scene, his ex-wife Susan, a failed opera singer is confronted by some journalist.  Their goal is to try and figure out what Kane's last word, "Rosebud" meant.  Susan wants nothing to do with them and she refuses to talk to them about anything. 

 

I decided to pick this scene because I thought the transition in the beginning was amazing.  The use if the lighting to move through the outdoor scene of the club where Susan was gives the audience a sense of the raw Susan is feeling upon the death of her ex spouse.  The allows the viewers to experience her raw emotion through this visual transition. 

 

I also thought the use of showing the rain on the sky light and how it blurred the window was an interesting dissolve edit technique to transition to the interior shot of the club where we see the ex Mrs. Kane hunched over a table crying.  We all have cried at some point so think about how it is to try to look through tear filled eyes; it is very much the same sensation we get in this transition.  The rain is like Susan's tears falling and she has cried so many tears, her vision is blurred from them. 

 

Citizen Kane was never one of my favorite movies.  It actually took me a few showings of the movie to really understand it.  What I do like is the whole film is shot in flashbacks upon the death of Mr. Kane.  All through out the movie there are very visually appealing and unique scene transitions.  This just was one that really stuck out in my head when thinking about this movie in general. 

Symbolism in the movie, “The Road Home"

The movie “The Road Home” directed by Yimou Zhang starts out with the son of Ziyi Zhang and Hao Zheng returning home after the death of his father.  His mother wants a very traditional burial service for her husband.  This tradition involves many individuals walking a long distance while carrying the casket back home to the village.  This tradition is rarely celebrated anymore and the son, Honglei Sun is struggling to figure out a way to make it happen.  While planning the arrangements for his father’s funeral, he recalls the story of how his parents met and the movie takes us back through time in a flashback.

Ziyi is a young woman who falls in love with the new village teacher, Hao.  There is a scene when the teacher first arrives in which he and Ziyi lock gazes with each other.  It is at that moment that the viewer gets a sense that this is a love story that is sparked at the first sight of one another. 

One must understand that in the culture and time that this story takes place there is a big separation between men and women.  When the men are working on the school, the women have to stay back by the well where they observe the men and the work they are doing.  The women cook the food for lunch for the men, place it on a table and walk away while they come and get what they want and eat.  Also during this time marriages were more or less arranged.  Women certainly did not get to pick who they fell in love with.  This was all a barrier, a fence if you will, for Ziyi and Hao’s love.

This brings me to the symbol of fences in the movie.  One of the most prominent fences in the movie is the fence around the school.  Men and children were mostly seen with in the confines of this fence while the women were outside it.  Often times Ziyi would make extra trips to the well near the school in hopes of seeing the teacher and maybe even interacting with him.  In contrast, Ziyi would often times follow Hao from a far of distance as he walked some of the school children home.  There was no fence to separate them.  As time went by, she got more nerve to get closer and eventually enough to actually interact with him. 

Another scene where the fence is very symbolic is the fence around Ziyi’s home.  One afternoon it was her and her mother’s turn to host the teacher at their home for lunch.  Ziyi was very excited and made sure to prepare everything just perfect.  After lunch she offered to make some mushroom dumplings for dinner.  Hao had to leave unexpectedly with the mayor of the town.  He stopped by Ziyi’s home to let her know he would not be able to make it for dinner.  She insisted that he stop by before he leaves to take some food on the road for him and they mayor.  All while they are talking this fence separates the two of them.  It is as if no matter how hard they try to acknowledge their love there is some barrier in the way.  It was at this time that Hao gives Ziyi a beautiful barrette. 

This brings us to the second symbol I wanted to discuss; the barrette.  As a child growing up I always had barrettes in my hair.  Usually they were the plastic ones that were in the shape of animals or hearts or something along those lines.  They were always in bright colors.  When I got to about the fourth grade I had given up on those barrettes.  I had grown up and those were too childish for me.  A funny thing ended up happening when I was a junior in high school.  I started to wear those same barrettes again.  It was as if I was on the brink if becoming an adult and I really didn’t want too so I resorted back to something familiar from my childhood. 

The barrette Hao presented to Ziyi was a bit more sophisticated than the plastic ones I used to wear but they represented this transition between being a child to becoming an adult.  She still wore her hair in the braided pigtails just like a young child but by lacing the gift of the barrette in her hair it signified this transition from child to adult.

I have to say this movie and the use of the fence and barrette as symbols kind of hit home.  It got me thinking about how many times I fenced myself in to certain situations in life.  The main one has always been my job.  I hated it but I did it for over ten years.  To be honest, I often thought about what I would do once I graduated and even though I had some ideas I honestly saw myself fenced in to this job because I had seniority or built up vacation time.  After all, it is all I have known for over ten years and I had grown comfortable with it.  I started to think about how many times does being comfortable fence us into situations in our lives that do not make us happy.

Needless to say on September 12 I got notice that my job was being eliminated and November 10^th would be my last day at my job.  Initially I freaked out.  My husband is not working and now I won’t be so there was the whole financial stress that really freaked me out.  But after the dust settled I really thought about it even more.  I graduate this December.  My ten years of service will allow me almost 6 months of my salary starting on November 10^th.  It’s as if the universe aligned up and proceeded to open this gate I never saw and allowed me to see the freedom that laid before me.  I can honestly say I do  not know if I would have left fairly soon after graduation since I was comfortable where I was.  I also know that I would have continued to be miserable and with each passing month it would be harder and harder to open that gate myself. 

 

The Long Shot

 

 

 

This shot has to be one of my favorite stills from this movie.  This is a long shot of Antoine and his friend are running along the street with the typewriter that they stole.  I find some humor in this shot because these kids seem so out of place, running down the street with a typewriter and you can sense this because the shot includes the bystanders in the background.  You can see their face and the fact that they are finding the while situation odd as well.  I also like the movement that is caused by the birds.  As the children are running with this stolen item, you would think they would want to maintain a low profile.  Instead, they are running and causing this huge disruption for the birds.  As they run through the center of their gathering, all the birds take off, causing a huge commotion which does nothing but draw attention to them.  This shot gives the viewer a sense of chaos, confusion, and urgency by allowing the viewer to take in the whole surroundings of the character including the bystanders, the buildings and the birds.  There is not one specific item in this shot that is more important then another item.  Together, as a whole they form the important picture. 

 

The High Angle Shot

 

 

 

I think in general, the high angle shot is one of my favorite film techniques.  It is like the viewer is a peeping tom; sitting in a tree looking down and spying on the happenings below.  In this specific shot, the kids are trying to unload the typewriting on an individual who will pawn it for them for the cash. They are trying to act inconspicuous because this is obviously against the law.  This shot allows the viewer to be a vouyerer into the underground world of black market typewriters.  As a viewer, it seems like you are getting away with something taboo and this is a perfect sentiment to depict in this exact moment in the film. 

 

 

Some Side Notes 

 

The next set of stills are just something I came across that I felt visually explained the constant struggle for Antoine in being the adult versus the child.

 

 

In this shot, Antoine is trying to return the typewriter he stole form his father's office.  He is caught by the night watchman.  What I find really striking is that Antoine looks like the typical "tough guy" you see adult actors playing.  I immediately thought of Humphrey Bogart in all his tough guy roles.  Compared to most male leads, Bogart was on the shorter end on the height spectrum.  He entered the Navy in 1918 at the age of 18 and was listed as 5'7 & 1/2. 

 

 (Humphrey Bogart - 1942)

 

Edward G Robinson was constantly casted as the though gangster guy and he measured in at 5'5.

 

 (Edward G Robinson - Mid-Late 1930's)

 

 

 James Cagney is another cinematic tough guy who was also only 5'5.

 

 (James Cagney - 1931)

 

 Take a close look at these "tough guys" and a close look at Antoine.  This image of Antoine in the fedora is in my opinion, the directors attempt to show Antoine as the "tough guy, gangster, bad guy" adult that people were so used to seeing in American movies.  The way Antoine's hat is tilted is very similar to how all the "tough guys" wore their hats in the American films.  The look in Antoine's eye is also similar.  He is very much being depicted as the adult in this still. 

 

Now take a look at this picture.

 

 

 This is still our same Antoine who just above was looking like the tough guy adult.  here we see him not too long afterwards and even in the same hat and clothes he looks completely different.  He looks young, innocent, vulnerable and looking as if he just wants direction and love and affection.  It is as if Truffaut was explaining that in his own childhood, no matter the image he was portraying he was just a young kid, looking for love and affection. This for me was truly the point were Truffaut used the camera to express a very personal and vulnerable side of himself and his own childhood. 

 

I just loved this movie.  It was visually stunning and a bit heartbreaking.