How valuable has ideological analysis been in developing your understanding of the themes of your chosen films?
Introduction –
Ideology is a network of values and beliefs which people share. These are included in the ideological framework of society and culture. Ideology is present within the media as it has a function of ‘social connection’ and works to communicate and often challenge viewpoints and set morals and belief systems. Audience ideology is what they expect of a film due to personal ideologies. Filmmakers ideologies are presented in films due their specific world views.
Beast of the Southern Wild
Introduction –
Beasts of the Southern Wild is an adaptation from Lucy Alibar’s play ‘Juicy and Delicious.’ The film was released in June 2012 after premiering at many film festivals. Upon release the films met with commercial success and critics acclaim due to the filmmaking as well as Wallis’s performance. 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. It can be considered an indie film which is any film which is made without the contribution of any large studio. 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. 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.” Beasts of the Southern Wild was Zeitlin’s first feature length film after the success of the short film ‘Egg’ released in 2008.
Audience –
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. 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. 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.
Filmmakers –
Utilises a shallow depth of field in order to dictate where the audience should look. Focus on Hushpuppy. Doesn’t conform to traditional expectations. Not a typical heroic character. 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.” These ideas do conform to ideas of the protagonist.
Non-feminist aspects of the film. Wink 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.
Marxist film theory ideology challenges Hollywood’s narrative structures and allows the spectator to make their own interpretations. The shallow depth of focus normally focuses on Hushpuppy which 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.”
La La Land
Introduction –
La La Land was directed by Damien Chazelle in 2016 after the previous success of his film Whiplash released in 2014. Similarly to Whiplash the story is orientated around the niche theme of jazz culture. The film is different from many other contemporary films in that its musical elements links back to the golden age of Hollywood. However, it’s still a heterosexual romance following the trend of the Hollywood output. The film had a large budget of $30 million and stars two fairly large stars as the lead roles. La La Land was produced by Summit (an extension of Lionsgate) which acted as the distributer for the UK and US.
Audience –
Mia at the centre of the narrative due to techniques employed by Chazelle. In the first couple of scenes the spectator follows Mia rather than Sebastian. By the time Sebastian is re-introduced the audience has been told about Mia’s ambitions and has sympathised with her due to her failed auditions. This doesn’t succumb to viewer expectations as the protagonist isn’t heroic, the strongest character and is female. Anna Leszkiewutz views Mia as the central role as she says that we mostly see Sebastian perform when Mia is watching and when he does perform the focus is still on Mia and we see her reactions to the music. After the audience has caught up with Sebastian’s narrative both Mia and Sebastian look at each other at the same time, subverting Mulvey’s notion on the male gaze as both gazes are equal.
Filmmakers –
It may be assumed that a mainstream Hollywood film such as La La Land would present dominant ideologies from a contemporary American society dominated by middle class white men with minority and female characters playing secondary roles. Heterosexual relationships will dominate the films narrative with a focus of fulfilment of employment, relationships and the family unit. It can be argued that La La Land does this due to the focus on their relationship and the American dream. Their aspirations can be shown as ambiguous throughout the film although their main goals are clear. The equality of opportunity is a clear ideology shown throughout the film which is not representative of reality.
There’s a clear feminist interpretation of La La Land due to Sebastian playing a pivotal role in Mia’s life as he helps her achieve success by overcoming fear, doubt and insecurities. He also doesn’t attend her show despite her being at his shows, supporting him. This plays into the concept of men being the characters that actively drive the narrative and women being passive.
The most fantastical scenes in the film are all Mia’s auditions and performances. The audience is also shown Mia writing and auditioning without Sebastian showing her independence. Both the opening and closing of the film has a focus on Mia. Mia achieves her ambitions of the ‘American Dream’ as she becomes a successful actress, is in a loving relationship and has a family. Although Sebastian achieves his ambitions he’s portrayed as lonely as Mia and her new partner leave the jazz club together.
Conclusion –
Both films present clear ideologies in order to a create specific effect on audience. Beasts of the Southern Wild’s ideologies are more against the grain as it’s an indie film however, La La Land’s ideologies are more mainstream and only differ slightly with Mia playing a strong and empowering role as a female protagonist.
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