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Cinema - Not just a technological advancement but a cultural force, A film…

- - - - I find this an interesting trope, as it connects to the historical portrayal of women in power as aggressive or “unnatural.” Mildred’s ambition and independence are linked to isolation and negative traits, echoing a recurring narrative in both history and film that frames powerful women as threatening or morally compromised. This is similar to modern examples like The Devil Wears Prada, where an ambitious woman in authority is depicted as harsh or difficult, reinforcing cultural anxieties about female power.
  - - - Additionally, at the end, he physically sits her down, essentially restoring the ‘order’ and fitting her back into the patriarchal class structure. He tells her, “I have encountered your temperament before. There are times when it is distinctly out of place, not to say downright idiotic,” reinforcing the social and professional limits imposed on women. This moment reflects the constraints of the production code era, which demanded that female ambition be tempered by moral and social hierarchies. Despite the film’s focus on female agency, this scene underscores that women’s resistance is always negotiated within a system that ultimately seeks to contain and regulate their behavior.
- - - - The Odessa march in Battleship Potemkin is reminiscent of the crowd of peasants at Joan of Arc’s execution in The Passion of Joan of Arc, and it also connects to the Martin Luther King Jr. march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma (2014). In all three, there are interesting parallels of the oppressed moving toward the oppressor, confronting fear, chaos, and the possibility of death in the pursuit of justice. In all their oppressors stand on one side and the oppressed on the other. Interestingly, unlike the first two, in Selma, the people marching are the ones elevated, walking from up, down towards the oppressor until they are level. The sequences often use sporadic cuts and dynamic editing to create a sense of chaos, heightening tension and urgency, while also emphasizing the courage and solidarity of the crowd in confronting oppressive power. They do not shy away from the cost of freedom. The marching sequences are carefully choreographed, showing collective courage, and the editing often compresses space and time, emphasizing the power of solidarity and the moral force of resistance across different historical and cinematic contexts.
        
        Selma
        
        Passion of Joan of Arc
        
        Battleship Potemkin
  - - - Stunts: Chaplin uses stunts and physical comedy to satirize industrialization and social pressures. Examples include the Tramp struggling with the oversized factory lunch, sliding through the coin-counting machine in the department store, and chaotic mishaps in the restaurant. These exaggerated movements highlight both the absurdity and danger of modern mechanized work, while keeping the tone humorous and engaging for audiences.
      - Gender: The Gamine initially tries to conform to traditional female roles, staying at home, cooking, and cleaning,but economic necessity forces her into employment. She takes a job in the club/restaurant, where she works alongside the Tramp and navigates both social and physical challenges. This situation highlights the tension between traditional expectations of domesticity and the realities of survival during the Depression. Interestingly, in these scenes she participates actively in physical comedy and problem-solving, showing resourcefulness and agency rather than being a passive figure, which subverts conventional gender roles.
  - - - Like in Dance, Girl, Dance (1940), bureaucratic or elite spaces are filmed from low angles, stretching upwards to emphasize power and hierarchy, similar to the grandeur of the hotel in The Last Laugh. In contrast, the modest, working-class homes are shot with flat, direct angles, highlighting their lack of prestige and reinforcing the visual hierarchy between classes.
        
        This technique can be seen in modern films like Parasite (2019), where director Bong Joon-ho uses architecture and framing to emphasize class division, showing how physical spaces reinforce social hierarchy and restrict the characters’ mobility and opportunities.