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Hollywood cinema revision - Coggle Diagram

- - - - People of colour were separated - segregation and were not allowed to vote.
  - - - Made the protagonist a women and a female hero
    - - Guriella Warfare USA lost
        
        Weapons and traps hidden in plain sight due to the turain and landscape of vietnam.
        
        The Metaphore for this is the Alien.
- - - - Barbra Creed = How female bodies are represented as monstrous in horror films and culture.
      - These monstrous portrayals stem form patriarchal fears about female sexuality and reproduction and the body.
        Often associating women with the abject or that which is unsettling and outside social order.
      - The theory also challenges the idea that women are solely victims in horror films suggesting instead that a monstrous female figure is created to control and subjugate women.
      - Key Concepts of The monstrous feminist
        
        The Archaic Mother
        
        Fear of the mother often comes from the fear of her ability to generate life.
        
        The archaic (ancient) Mother is one that doesn't need a man and who is the origin of life.
        
        This eliminates the Father figure and therefore disrupts the patriarchy.
        
        The origin of life.
        
        Life can originate without a man.
        
        The computer = Mother
        
        The Alien is creating life without a male Alien.
        
        The Monsterous womb
        
        A womb is seen as the site of creation and destruction. (Vagine dentata = The toothed vagine)
        
        The fear of reproduction.
        
        The fear of female sexuality.
        
        The discovery of the egg room by Kane in Alien results in Kane's death.
        
        Castrator
        
        The women threatens male power
        
        This is Ripley within Alien as the men see her as a threat to their position or role within the crew of the Nostromo.
        
        Primordial abyss something existing from the beginning of time.
        
        Lots of links to the unknown and in terms of the Mother - something that exists without needing a man to reproduce.
    - - The Alien spaceship is organic and has a skeletal design that follows female anatomy, with a Vagina like opening this architectural imagery sets the stage for the film's anxieties about the female body and reproduction, presenting the "monstrous womb" as a site of horror and danger.
        
        The facehugger's assault on Kane, where it forces a tube down his throat, is a clear metaphor for non-consensual sexual penetration and rape. This scene is designed to evoke male fears of bodily violation and penetration, a reversal of typical horror tropes where women are the primary victims of sexualized violence.
        
        The creature's phallic appendage acts as an "umbilical cord," further perverting the natural process of reproduction.
      - The violent, bloody "birth" of the Alien from Kane's chest is the ultimate depiction of reproduction anxiety. It turns the natural, life-giving process of childbirth into a horrific, fatal event for the "parent," stripping the maternal role of any traditional comfort or power and presenting it as a destructive force that men can also fall victim to. This also an example of Abject as it craetes a unatural sense of revoltion
      - H.R. Giger's design for the adult Alien combines both phallic and vaginal imagery, blurring traditional gender lines. Its phallic head and inner jaw, combined with a sleek, yet organic, body, create a creature that defies simple gender classification. This ambiguity contributes to the film's exploration of sexual confusion and anxiety in the face of breaking traditional gender norms.
      - The android Ash, who embodies a kind of toxic masculinity, attempts to murder Ripley by forcing a rolled-up pornographicmagazine down her throat. This act of "corrective" assault mirrors the facehugger attack and is interpreted by Creed as an attempt to return Ripley to a traditional, sexually objectified female role, thus battling the threat of her gender-neutral, empowered persona.
  - - - Socpophillia and voyeurism are core ways that the Male gaze is used in Vertigo - for example Scottie watches Madeline's every move on Gavin's instruction and when we see them together in the scene she is introduced the camera stalks her every action mimicking Scotties eyes which showcase how much she has pleased his gaze. This form of cinema taps into a voyeuristic pleasure, known as socpophilia, from secretly looking at others.
      - The darkened theater and the detached camera perspective allow the male spectator to indulge this desire.
      - Which is a key aesthetic in Vertigo as scotties shapes madeline to please his socophilic pleasures and Hitchcock's constructs Madeline and Judy's scenes to showcase - sexual and secret voyeuristic pleasures of a male audience.
      - The aesthetic feature of the active Active male vs Passive female In vertigo links to the cinematic gaze that establishes a power dynamic where the male character is the active driver of the narrative, and the female character exists in a passive, objectified role, defined by her relationship to him. This is seen in Vertigo as Scotties and Gavin Shape Judy/Madeline into the ideal , perfect and passive women that can be manipulated and controlled to gain pleasure or to help commit a crime which reflects the notion of the Housewife which is a key societal expectation of the 1950’s.
    - - Certain colours reflect the characters within the film through the use of lighting mise en scene like sets and costumes.
      - Scotties reflects red and blue which reflects Love and deception as he has fallen in Love with a lie.
        As well as his guilt and trauma expressed through his Vertigo and his deep freeze of emotions after he thinks Madeline has died.
        
        Green - Judy as she is duplicitous and deceptive to Scottie as she helps Gavin shape the Madeline Scottie will fall in Love with just so that Gavin can kill his real wife who we never meet. it also helps Madeline stand out within the sea of red in the introductory scene.
        
        Grey = Madeline as it shows modesty, mystery, and a ghostly detachment as Madeline is more like a ghostly presences that then haunts Scottie forever until he faces his vertigo ( masculinity) and regains his strength as a man. This Links to how after WW2 men were in a masculinity crisis due to more female independence that was gained during the war when women were working and doing men's jobs' which meant men had to regain power over society through the use of ideals like the housewife and the ideal women.
      - Yellow = Midge = reflects Midge’s motherly, independent and creative personality, Creates a safe, happy and friendly atmosphere, symbolizes Scottie's dull reality through the character of Midge, she represents Scottie's grounded, real-world life.
- - - - In 1948, struggling independent movie producers and exhibitors finally triumphed in their battle against the big studios' monopolistic behaviour.
  - - - Hot first act with an exciting incident.
      - Second act with a crisis and dark moments where the hero is challenged.
      - The third act is a triumphant moment - redemption and freeze frame ending.
    - - There are two phases of New Hollywood after the end of the studio system
      - Phase one renaissance = Mid - late 1960’s - 1980’s
      - Phase two 1975 - 1960’s = high concept
- - - - Voyerism
        
        The act of gaining pleasure from watching otehrs engadged in intimate behaviours.
      - The hitchcock blond
        
        The Hitchcock blonde is a female character that seems to appear consistently in all his films, she typically is shown to be very elegant and icy, almost not real fitting the 1950s idle standards of the perfect woman, reflecting how the male dominant world cared more about objectifying and the control over a woman than anything else.
      - The Maguffin
        
        A plot device within film that drives the action in the narrative. The maguffin is often a catalyst to the action. Often an important element of the plot but is used to keep the audience engaged with the action.
      - Set peices
        
        A large or spectacular scene with high stakes that captures attention through spectacle instead of dialogue. That is central to the films plot
      - Pure cinema
        
        Story telling through visuals
    - - The Director is the solo author of a film and this is shown through the use of their technical competency , interior meanings and personal style which they showcase in all their films giving directors their own auteur styles.
      - Technical competency - masterful use of camera movement, particularly the dolly zoom to visually represent the protagonist’s vertigo and the symbolic use of colour.
        
        Personal style - set pieces, Voyeristic cinematography and icy blonds.
        
        Interior meaning - the taboo, voyeurism, fear of the other, obsession, power , fear , obsession, control and identity.
    - - Vertigo was a collaboration and not just and not just based on the directors creative choices.
      - Bernard Herman the composer of the films music.
        
        Edith Head was the costume designer.
        
        Saul Bass was the films graphic designer and he craeted the vertigo graphics for the titles and Scotties dream sequence.
  - - - The spectical. full scale and impressive set's
      - The use of smoke to connote meaning
      - The themes of revenge , honour, justice and curruption
      - The theme of survival against monstorus or currupt forces and large insititutions.
      - Close up's and Low angles
      - The fear of technology and the unknown
      - Immersive and grandscale world buidling
      - Active Female figures who go against male authority
      - The fear of the growth or corporate control
    - - For / Andrew sarris Approach
        
        His films possess personal style, interior meaning and technical accuracy. examples of these include distinct low key lighting choices , his use of the spectacle and impressive scale set', multi camera set ups, the theme of corruption and the fear of technology, the unknown and the rise of global corperations.
      - Against /Pauline Kale approach
        
        His films like Alien are collaborations with many creatives such as he Musical Director Jerry Goldsmith , The Production designers Michael Seymour and Robb Cobb and Geiger, The Writers Dan O’Bannon and Ross Shusett.
        
        He collaborated with Geiger to create the design of the Alien and the concept art and storyboards for the film.
        
        The writers who wrote the film. Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett - it could be argued that some of the themes and ideas in the film were originally theirs as they wrote the screenplay for the film which means they had a big hand in shaping the characters, concept and storyline of the film.
        
        Scott collaborated with Jerry Goldsmith on the score of the film however he decided to heavily edit and replace his score which caused tension between them however Scott did respect his work stating that “ it was full of dark beauty.
        
        Scott collaborated with multiple production designers for Alien for example Michael Seymour and Ron Cobb who designed the Nostromo which used the universe aesthetic , the Sci fi aesthetic and realism.
      - Metteur en scene
        
        Ridley Scott uses other artists' work to influence his films. He uses these connections to power his Films thematically and visually. Michael Seymour and Ron Cobb created Nostromo's design and Earthworld landscape. Scott combined their work along with music composer Jerry Goldsmith to create the outcome he wanted. In addition, Ridley was captivated by the artist H.R Giger’s unique and disturbing “biomechanical” aesthetic and gave him the influence over the mise en scène, specifically the alien. This style allowed Ridley to employ themes of the archaic mother and the reproduction anxiety through the use of Yonic and phallic shapes within character and production design.