Mazza AMST
Monday, May 1, 2017
Monday, April 24, 2017
Critical Essay: Snowpiercer
How
is Snowpiercer a transnational film?
Snowpiercer
in
my opinion displayed transnationalism in three different
ways: diverse cast/characters,
Korean director for American film, and the movie
was based off of a French
graphic novel Le Transperceneige.
Wikipedia defines transnationalism as “a social
phenomenon and scholarly
research agenda grown out of the heightened
interconnectivity between people
and the receding economic and social
significance of boundaries among nation sates.”
Cast/Characters
In the film the audience is given no background of the
characters before the
apocalyptic freeze 17 years prior. It is made very clear
however that the last
people on Earth living on the train came from all
different parts of the world. Within
the first thirty minutes of the movie three
different languages were spoken.
The specific
scene including the multiple languages being spoken is Minister Mason
(Tilda
Swinton) giving a seven-minute speech before freezing a man’s arm and shattering
it with a hammer. There was English and two other languages being translated
for the
“scum” people of the back of the train.
This assists the audience in understanding that people
aboard the Snowpiercer did not
all just hop on in America. The cast included
huge Hollywood names (Chris Evans,
Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris) along with various
other actors of different ethnicities.
Snowpiercer
was director Bong Joon-ho’s first English language movie of his career.
Joon-ho
is from South Korea. A South Korean director making a majority English
spoken
film directly links with this film being transnational.
“The global forces that link people across nations.”
(Ezra and Rowden, Transnational
Cinema, pg.
1)
I believe the significance of having directors of
different nation states create movies
gives the movie a new twist on the repetitive
Hollywood originals we watch every
couple years concerning the social class
segregation included in Snowpiercer
(ex: Hunger Games series).
This movie is considered and English film but it
premiered first in Seoul, South
Korea a couple months before its release at the
Deauville American Film Festival.
Le
Transperceneige
Snowpiercer
was based off a French graphic novel Le
Transperceneige written by
Jaques Lob. Director Joon-ho found this graphic
novel in a bookstore and read the
book cover to cover while standing in the
store. He was inspired by this graphic
novel and added his own South
Korean-Czech science fiction thriller twist to it.
Did
Snowpiercer successfully conform and/or
expand transnationalism?
At first, while watching this movie I struggled to
find connections with this
being considered a transnational film because it was
one society on a single train
simply segregated by train cars. The more I got
to know the characters and researched
the director and his inspiration it
became clear.
In my opinion from the three examples above Snowpiercer conformed directly
with the
definition of transnationalism. The genre of this movie in and of itself
screams transnationalism: English-language South Korean-Czech science fiction
thriller film, quite a mouthful and highly transnationalist.
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Roughest Draft: Argo and Persepolis
Who is telling the story?
The Islamic Revolution
was in full blast in 1979. Iran has strict censorship policies, which limits
the people of Iran to be able to express themselves freely whether it be music,
name brand materials, movies, and numerous other activities. These limitations
are still active today, but two stories in particular occurred directly in the
middle of the revolution and the stories live on today. Persepolis, first a graphic novel, then was turned into an animated
biographical film. The story follows author and director, Marjane Satrapi
throughout her young childhood years, into her life as an adult during the
Islamic Revolution. This movie has been translated into three languages, but
the original was made in French. The second story is Argo. This thriller drama 2012 film is directed by Ben Affleck. The
movie was based off a true story of a CIA mission named Canadian Caper. This
real mission, transformed into a film of the Islamic revolution hostage
situation at the United States embassy in Iran closely follows many situations
that happened during this time in history. The purpose of comparing these two
films set during the Islamic revolution of 1979 is examining who is telling the
story, and how the story changes based off who is telling it. We will be
finding similarities and differences amongst an Iranian born Islamic female
Marjane Satrapi and Ben Affleck/former CIA agent Tony Mendez. Interviews,
scholarly journals, and examination of filming techniques will assist in
finding the similarities and differences between the two.
Persepolis was narrated
from the standpoint of a Marxist raised middle class Iranian female. Marjane
Satrapi and her family were viewed as radicalisms in her town, and feared
walking the streets of Tehran frightened by the Muslim fundamentalist who took
power during the Islamic Revolution. Marjane growing up witnessed firsthand
family members being murdered, arrested, and ________. The arrest and execution
of her Uncle Anoosh was the final straw which led her to act out in class and
get in trouble with the police by breaking modesty laws. Going to school abroad for her remaining grade
school years, college, and early adulthood Marjane avoided talking about her nationality
and religion at all costs. To new friends she would say, “I am French, born and
raised in Paris.” Marjane felt the need for this because of how the rest of the
world views Iran and Iraqi people in the 1980’s and still today. In an interview
with Bitch magazine Satrapi
encourages non-Iranians, “the 70 million people [of Iran] are human beings,
they are not an abstract notion. They are individuals with life, love, hopes.
Their life is worth the life of anybody else in the world.” (Frames and
Mirrors). Satrapi attempts to teach people through her graphic narrative and biographical
animated film the frameworks of acceptance with the use of “pictorial framing of the comic art panel.”
(framing and mirrors). In Persepolis the audience sees that Marjane is a normal
teenage girl who loves punk rock, Kim Wilde, and Bruce Lee. Elajih(author of
article) believes the purpose of showing Marjane’s infatuation with western pop
culture is to not only “piece together a divided identity,” but to bring
forward the contrasting sides Marjane had to live with growing up during this
time in Iran. In a single frame Marjane is pictured in her Hijab with a Persian
artworks in the backdrop, placed next to image of Marjane free of the Hijab
surrounded by posters, clothes, etc. This technique Marjane used throughout her
film is to assist her audience in understanding the competing states of her
life.
(paragraph about other
graphic novels from Middle East, with sources included)
Argo was
told from the standpoint of a white male CIA agent entering the ciunrty of Iran
in the middle of the Islamic Revolution for an undercover mission. The opening
scene of this movie begins with a group of Iran/Iraqi protestors swaying an American
flag that is on fire outside of the American embassy. With a movie beginning in
this way automatically gives the audience an idea on who/ what type of person
is telling this story. Within the first five minutes the audience sees the
people of Iraq and Iran as mad people in the wrong, and with that initial image
of these people, sets the stage for how the director, Ben Affleck, wants the
audience to view the people of Iraq and Iran. In an interview with director of Good Will Hunting Gus Van Sant, Affleck explains
how he wishes he could have traveled to Iran to see the country in person but the
studio said “it was a bad idea… whenever people go there (Iran) they always end
up being followed by secret service agents.” (Ben AFFLECK)With this movie being
released in 2012, during the United States and Iraq war, Americans already had
their stereotype of Iran/Iraq people figured out. The story of Argo seems so far-fetched the fact that
it is a true story brings light to so many questions unanswered within the
film. In an interview with Ben Affleck and Tony Mendez (the actual spy who
completed the Argo mission of 1981) go into detail about the feature film. “The
events in Argo weren’t the first time. I was working with them (Hollywood)
routinely,” Mendez says. The completed mission of Argo was just one short
chapter of Mendez’s entire spy career. People may question how accurate Ben
Affleck’s movie may be, since it is not categorized as a documentary. Mendez
states, “I didn’t think he needed to change a thing.”
Both of these films Persepolis and Argo took place at the exact same time within the same region of
the world. What makes them so different? Persepolis
is a black and white animated film. The specific purpose for the film being
told in black and white animation was to prove that the people in the movie put
in these different scenarios could be from any country not just specifically
Iranians. Color of skin, or miniscule physical features could not be depicted
to prove that characters were a certain race. Persepolis being told from a female perspective reveals some
situations to be more lighthearted than if it was told from a male’s point of view.
For example, in multiple scenes Marjane goes into great emotion about
relationships with boys. Yes this is an autobiography and this was a part of
her story, but most would agree these scenes do not add to the plot of the
movie. Persepolis was first released
in French in 2007, then translated into English, Persian, German, and Italian.
This clearly show Marjane’s direction on who she wanted to appreciate and learn
about her film, everyone. Argo
is a biography drama filmed in color. This movie being filmed in color gives it
more life and feeling of being in the streets of Iran during the Islamic
revolution. Color is necessary to depict who are the Americans and who are the
Iranian people throughout. Argo is
told by not only a male, but a CIA spy. The narrator makes himself clear
throughout the actions of his overall mission that he will do anything no
matter how implausible it may seem, and add a couple badass riot scenes to keep
the audience on their toes. Argo has
not been translated into any other languages, it is only featured in English,
which again clearly shows what audience Ben Affleck was reaching out to,
Americans. Both of these films show straightforward differences that are
obvious on purpose to assist viewers in representing who is telling the story.
(paragraph about
similarities, with sources included)
Persepolis
and Argo were both box office hits, receiving
enormous amounts of attention from people across the world. Still today, Persepolis is not sold or streamed on
televisions in Iraq and Iran because of their strict conservative laws and the
governmental standpoint of Marjane’s story being inaccurate. The course concept
of transnationalism is clearly the focal point throughout both movies. Persepolis is a melting pot of cultures
all thrown into one animated feature length film. Marjane is Iranian, her movie
was originally released in French, and her artistic technique used for her
cartoon has a Persian flare. Argo
includes two languages throughout the film, English and Farci. The movie takes
place in the United States and multiple countries in the middle east. The importance
of transnationalism in film is becoming more prevalent and viewed as a way to
unite the people of the world. Information about similar historical events told
from various countering people one ups history textbooks for the sake of perspective.
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Thesis and Outline: Argo and Persepolis
Argo movie trailer
Persepolis movie trailer
Introduction
(rough draft)
The Islamic Revolution was in full blast in 1979. Iran
has strict censorship policies, which
limits the people of Iran to be able to
express themselves freely whether it be music, name
brand materials, movies,
and numerous other activities. These limitations are still active today,
but two stories in particular occurred directly in the middle of the revolution and
the stories
live on today.
Persepolis,
first a graphic novel, then was turned into an animated biographical film. The
story follows author and director, Marjane Satrapi throughout her young
childhood years,
into her life as an adult during the Islamic Revolution. This
movie has been translated into
three languages, but the original was made in
French.
The second story is Argo.
This thriller drama 2012 film is directed by Ben Affleck. The
movie was based
off a true story of a CIA mission named Canadian Caper. This real
mission,
transformed into a film of the Islamic revolution hostage situation at the
United
States embassy in Iran closely follows many situations that happened
during this time in history.
The purpose of comparing these two films set
during the Islamic revolution of 1979 is
examining who is telling the story,
and how the story changes based off who is telling it. We
will be finding
similarities and differences amongst an Iranian born Islamic female
Marjane Satrapi and Ben Affleck/former CIA agent Tony Mendez. Interviews, scholarly
journals, and examination of filming techniques will assist in finding the
similarities and
differences between the two.
Thesis
The purpose of comparing and contrasting the films
Argo (2012) and Persepolis (2007)
is to find how the events of the Islamic
Revolution in 1979 changed based off who was
telling the story.
Outline
Introduction
(see above)
- Thesis clearly stated in the introduction
Marjane
Satrapi’s side
- Details of her national Iranian pride
- How the world views Iran, but how the people of Iran really are (secondary source: Frames and Mirrors, Elahi)
Other
Iranian Graphic novel authors/ directors
- (secondary source: Marjane Satrapi and the Graphic Novels from and About the Middle East, Chikuma and Lazreg)
- Talk about two different authors and what happened to them in Iran during the Islamic, and how their work was inspired from these events in history
Ben
Affleck
- Why he chose to do this movie topic?
- What he learned as an actor/ director by making this film?
- (secondary source: Ben Affleck, Van Sant)
Former
CIA Agent Tony Mendez and Ben Affleck
- Tony’s version of how the Islamic Revolution played out
- How he feels about the result of the Argo film
- Importance of Hollywood and CIA missions
- (secondary source: Spies Like Us, Nashawaty)
Differences
- Significant differences from each side of the people’s story that stand out
- Differences between the movies (settings, mannerisms, actions of Iranian people)
- Animation vs. Not animation
Similarities
- (further research needed for this section)
Conclusion
- Restate thesis
- New significant findings
- Restate the importance of the purpose comparing Argo and Persepolis
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