Context –
Beasts of the Southern Wild is a low budget film and targets a niche audience and wasn’t financed by any of the major 6 Hollywood studios. Most of its marketing was accomplished through word of the mouth due to its critical acclaim which generated publicity for the film. It also had success in film festivals and award shows. The film can be considered an indie film which is any film which is made without the contribution of any large studio. Bob Rosen is one of the founders of the Film Independent non-profit organisation which created four categories for what an independent film should be. These are:
- Risk-taking in content and style
- Express a personal vision
- Non-Hollywood in financing
- Demonstrates the valuation of art over money
Beasts of the Southern Wild can be shown to meet the criteria for independent film as it has the sub-genre of ‘magic realism’ with the topics of poverty and natural disasters. It could be argued that these choice is topics may have restricted audiences shown that the filmmaker took risks and therefore fitting into the criteria for an independent film.
This could therefore explain why the film originally had a limited release and was only played in four cinemas across the USA. This may have been because the film is a product of a specific artistic vision from Zeitlin. This is shown as he said that “I wanted to celebrated people living on the precipice of destruction hanging onto and fighting for their homes,” in one of Franz Lidz articles in the Smithsonian Magazine.
Zeitlin worked with Court 13 who are a community that are dedicated to making films about communities and representing outsiders. They’re known to embrace the challenges of working outside the system. Michael Gottwald (Producer of Beasts of the Southern Wild and Court 13 member) stated that “Limitations are motivation for us. We love to bust through challenges.”
‘Outsider art’ was made by Roger cardinal (art critic) and is used to describe art which is made outside boundaries of ‘official culture.’ This term fits Beasts of the Southern Wild accurately as well as describing the independent film scene well.
Beasts of the Southern Wild is considered an Indie film as it goes against the grain of Hollywood conventions as it prioritises a focus on Characters rather than action. This is shown as when the creatures in the ice are introduced; this somewhat suggests that there’s going to some form of action, violence and possibly death surrounding the viscousness of these creatures. However, instead of the they are used as metaphors and symbolism and the film instead focuses on characters development.
It also doesn’t conclude in a stereotypical Hollywood ‘happy ending’ as the conclusion is open ended and although its motivational and hopeful it has a sad tone due to the death of Wink (Hushpuppy’s father).
The ‘Independent Film and Television Alliance’ says that there are over 500 independent films released per year meaning that they make up over 70% of films produced in the USA every year. Independent films took the US box office to $4.5 billion (41.7%) in 2012. The market for Indie films averaged at 35% between 2000 and 2011.
Independent filmmakers often create short films to launch their careers. This is shown as Zeitlin created a stop motion film titles ‘Egg’ which, at the Slamdance Festival, won best animation. he made his first live action short film in 2008, titled ‘Glory at the Sea’ which was partly inspired by hurricane Katrina. The film was intended to be 5 minutes, take a month to film and cost $5000 but ended up being 25 minutes, taking 18 months to film and costing around $100,000. The film was at the South by Southwest Festival in 2008 in Austin and won many awards including the Wholphin award. With each success at different film festivals Zeitlin’s popularity as an ‘up and coming’ director increased.
After being selected to enter the Directors Lab programme Zeitlin was awarded a $10,000 cash prize to aid with the production of Beasts of the Southern Wild. The Sundance festival had an essential role in securing an audience for the film. The film was met to critical acclaim and won 74 different awards. This good publicity lead to a wider release and resulted in it being screened in up to 318 different cinemas. In 2013 it was nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards.
For Independent films the marketing for a film often costs up to three times the cost of production. Because of this independent filmmakers often make deals with major US film production companies in order to distribute their films. Because of this US film producers can be viewed more as distributers in this context.
Although Beasts of the Southern wild doesn’t directly reference Hurricane Katrina it’s an obvious influence in the plot of the film. The film also focuses on the more general impact of natural disaster and how certain communities are impacted more, although according to Zeitlin, this was not meant to be a political commentary on global warming even though this is a topic close to him.
The Gulf Coast was hit by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, devastating communities with the initial storm followed by huge floods. This resulted in hundreds of thousands of people having to leave their homes and over $100 billion worth of damage. It’s reported that over 1800 people died and that people of colour, the poor and the elderly were most badly affected. The messages from Beasts of the Southern wild certainly reflect the inequality which was a problem during Hurricane Katrina.
Because the financial risks of an independent film are less, filmmakers often take more risks with creative freedom than in mainstream films. Indies often do things differently by defying typical conventions and can therefore be more easily defined by what they’re not. They aren’t mainstream products, they often don’t have specific genres and don’t have typical narrative structures. Beasts of the Southern Wild is a drama but can also be viewed as a Fantasy due to the incorporation of fantastical realism. The film has a mostly conventional linear structure however, the elements fantasy which could be viewed as reality or as an figment of Hushpuppy’s imagination creates an alternative narrative and encourage the audience to think freely and decide this for themselves.
Independent film often breaks the ‘rules’ of filmmaking to create effect. For example, choosing unique and unusual shot types, or using mise-en-scene with hidden and symbolic meanings. In addition, the filmmaker may also choose to structure a scene in a more creative way by ‘foregoing an establishing shot’ and utilising ‘contrapuntal sound to challenge the spectator.’
Audiences often have expectations for independent films. It could be argued that art cinema in itself can be considered a genre due to its own unique and distinct conventions. This can also be said with independent film.
Aesthetic –
The originality of Beast of the Southern wild can be attributed to its unique aesthetic made through the artistic decisions of the filmmaker. Some of the memorable moments of the film are not designed to aid the narrative and push it forwards but instead stand out as moments of beauty.
Zeitlin is said to be inspired by the aesthetic of a documentary called Dry Wood (Blank, 1973) where there’s a scene where they’re all preparing food together. Additionally, Zeitlin was inspired by nature documentaries and wanted to show this ‘close up’ aesthetic throughout Beasts of the Southern Wild. Zeitlin said “I’m really obsessed with nature documentaries. I wanted to explore that child-like fascination with nature by showing it up close and in detail.” Jerrycan (Julius Avery) is said to be another influence on Beasts of the Southern Wild’s aesthetic.
Representation –
The representation of age is a key feature of Beasts of the Southern Wild with the contrasting age difference between Wink and Hushpuppy. Wink is the older out of the two and acts as a parental figure however, he doesn’t display the stereotypical wisdom of his role. He has authority and respect within the community and is viewed as a leader throughout the film as he leads the plan to blow up the levee.
Age is represented as Wink prioritises teaching Hushpuppy to survive over giving her affection and love. Hushpuppy has clear respect for her father, shown by her use of phrases such as ‘Daddy says’ and ‘daddy always says’ showing the respect that’s gained from their age difference and therefore Winks survival knowledge. This is shown in the fishing scene and the crab eating scene. This shows that Hushpuppy is being changed by her father’s views and ideologies. Miss Bathseba can also be shown to have authority due to her wisdom surrounding the stories of the aurochs which the become an essential aspect of the film because of Hushpuppy’s imagination of these creatures.
Children are often stereotypically represented as weak and emotionally vulnerable however, Beasts of the Southern Wild pushes against the grain of this stereotype as Hushpuppy is presented as strong and independent and deals with challenges that face her effectively. Her voice-overs throughout the film gives the viewer an insight on her attitudes and perspective. This is shown as she says “I see that I’m a little piece of a big, big universe, and that makes things right,” showing her impressive ability of being able to show a positive attitude in such harrowing conditions showing her strength and resilience and presents her as being far more mature than her age. In the final shot of the film she’s presented as a leader of her community meaning that she has taken over the role of Wink after he passed away. This is shown in the screenplay as the last words are “Hushpuppy leads them forwards, into the future,”
Gender –
The audience would assume that there would be progressive representations of gender as it was made and set in 2012 and is a contemporary indie films which are renowned for this representation. However, Wink clearly holds stereotypical views of strength and survival skills as the characteristic of a male and therefore encourages Hushpuppy to act tough and masculine. An example of this is when they arm wrestle and when he refers to her with masculine terms such as “you are the man,” and “You’re gonna be the king of the Bathtub.”
Wink also criticises Hushpuppy when she shows emotion and fear which highlights her gender and the representation of this. While discussing her health and anxiety he responds with “That’s just a side effect of being a stupid little girl.”
Hushpuppy’s clothing is either masculine or completely androgynous throughout the film. In the opening scene her clothes are described as ‘boys underpants and a child-sized wife-beater (vest).’ When she’s in the hospital they dress her in more stereotypically feminine clothes and her discomfort is clear throughout this scene.
Ethnicity –
Ben Kenigsberg (writer of Time Out Chicago) showed concerns about the representation of race in Beasts of the Southern Wild due to the black residents of the community being depicted as “alcoholics, inattentive parents or fools who accidentally set fire to their homes.” The representations do often edge towards offensive with the inhabitants of the community often being shown as ‘poor, dirty and even animalistic at times.’ The is shown at the start of the film as Hushpuppy is playing with dirt before eating with the animals and being told to ‘share with the dogs,’ showing the animalistic presentation and therefore negative representation of their race.
However, this can be disputed as race is represented as irrelevant in the community as there are many races depicted and all of them are viewed as equals.
Spectatorship –
Independent films are arguably found more challenging by audiences as they can be interpreted in multiple ways and ‘invite a wider range of responses,’ supporting the idea of an active spectator. Roger Elbert one said:
“I’ve always felt that movies are an emotional medium … We come voyeurs. We become people who are absorbed into the story, if the story is working. And it’s an emotional experience.” A key part of spectatorship is the emotional impact that a film has on a person which was an important aspect to Zeitlin.
Zeitlin said “I think Court 13 is about living the Story, about trying to create the actual feeling that you are trying to shoot on set. You want to shoot a party, you have a party. You want to shoot a flood, you go to a flood. It’s trying to get the real thing on camera and emotionally too. There is a lot of slight-of-hand acting using real performances and real emotions.”
There have been many studies showing the emotional impacts that a film can have of the audience. There are two predominant theories that support this idea.
Identification view – spectators engage with the film as they’re trying to place themselves in the characters situation and empathise with them. This is know as ‘imaginative identification.’
Assimilation view – Spectators experience sympathy and antipathy but they are instead an external observer looking at the character from the outside.
It can also be argued that the viewer responds differently from the character which is shown by the ‘asymmetry of emotional response.’ This is shown as when Wink dies the audience wouldn’t feel grief to the same extent as Hushpuppy. This is because Zeitlin focused the film with Hushpuppy in the centre so that the audience is more concerned about Hushpuppy’s wellbeing than Wink’s death.
Most active spectator theories focus on the notion that the spectator interprets the film and therefore people will have a diverse response. This view is challenged by the ideas of emotional contagion.
Coplan said that this idea was developed by psychologists Elaine Hatfield, John Cacioppo and Richard Rapson. The idea has been described as “the tendency to automatically mimic and synchronise expressions, vocalisations, posters, and movements wi those of another person, and, consequently, to converge emotionally. “
Plantinga argues that filmmakers attempt to create scenes of empathy in order to exploit emotion from the audience with the characters feelings. A scene attempting to do this will have scenes with long shot lengths, a shallow depth of field and close-ups. Narratives will often slow down in these scenes in order to maximise the chances of an emotional response from the spectator.
Zeitlin uses these ideas in the Wink’s death scene. The use of Hushpuppy’s voice-over is essential within this scene as we have an insight into what she’s thinking. It could be argued that the fantastical elements of the film such as the aurochs and the ice-caps collapsing may restrain the audience from becoming fully immersed as these elements break-up the realism. However, it could also be argued that these elements allow for the audience to become closer to Hushpuppy as it’s an insight into Hushpuppy’s imagination.
Ideology –
Marxist film theory ideology challenges Hollywood’s narrative structures and allows the spectator to make their own interpretations. It does this my using a deep focus so that the audience is free to look around the frame and decide what to give their attention to. This is not shown in Beasts of the Southern Wild as it utilises a shallow depth of field in order to dictate where the audience should look.
The shallow depth of focus normally focuses on Hushpuppy which also adheres to Marxist filmmaking as it does’t prioritise the community over the individual. However, it does follow Marxist film theory in that there is a clear sense of community within the Bathtub community as there’s equality between everyone in the community. This is shown as Wink says “Boss, anything go wrong, Walrus is Daddy.”
Even though the film concludes with a group shot, the focus is clearly on Hushpuppy’s story throughout the film. This can be shown as she is the leader in the group in the last shot of the film. Beasts of the Southern Wild contextualises and analyses hierarchical relationships which is shown due to the lack of celebration of ‘capitalism, industrialisation, wealth and material possessions.’ It instead celebrates ‘community, nature and strength.’ The difference in priorities and community is apparent between the Bathtub community and the ‘industrialised world,’ This is shown as Hushpuppy states, “Daddy always saying that up in the dry world, they got none of what we got.”
There is the key representation of Social class throughout the film shown from the Bathtub community as many don’t work, have low incomes and have compromised living standards. The difference in class is evident in the scenes in the hospital where the audience can make direct comparisons the Americans not in the Bathtub community. Privileged Americans are clearly blamed for this division shown by the wall that cuts them off. This seems particularly relevant in comparisons to the claims that Trump made about building a wall during his presidency.
The audience is encouraged to ‘cheer the underdog’ throughout the film as they are encouraged to ‘share the joy of these characters.’ The portrayal of the authorities that evict Hushpuppy and Wink while they’re vulnerable is negative as they are aggressive and violent.
It’s clear that the film explores Marxist film theory concepts however, it could be argued that Zeitlin focuses too much on the individual and not enough on community as well as leading the spectator to focus towards Zeitlin’s preferred interpretation.
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