Westerns - courage & fear

Usually, the central plot of the western film is the classic, simple goal of maintaining law and order on the frontier in a fast-paced action story. It is normally rooted in archetypal conflict - Good vs. Bad, Virtue vs. Evil, White hat vs. Black hat or Man vs. Man. Western heroes are often local lawmen, ranchers, cowboys, territorial marshals, or a skilled, fast-draw gunfighter. They are normally masculine persons of integrity and principle - courageous, moral, tough, solid and self-sufficient.

In the first Western we watched, High Noon, the Marshall of the town, named Will Cane (played by Gary Cooper), was a very courageous man and gave off the impression that he had no fear of anything. He would go through anything to just capture the criminals and lock them behind bars for as long as they could be there. In the town the Marshall lives in, everyone is independent and depends on no one else but themselves. Citizens of that little town all try their best to keep their families out of danger and stay as far as possible from any crimes. In the beginning of the film, we are shown the wedding of the ‘retired’ sheriff. His wife, Amy Fowler Kane (played by Grace Kelly) is very pacific and does not want her husband to go to fight, especially not right after his wedding day. Will Cane, being as stubborn as he is he turned back and went to go fight for his town. He threw his fears outside the window and let courage come in to him and to guide his path. He knew if he let fear take over him, his town was going to suffer and he was just not ready to let that happen at all. The citizens of that town gave him no help at all, ad no feed back at all. He tells them what’s happening and all they do is stare at him as if he were talking an unknown language. The people are too scared to act or to involve themselves in something they know they might not come out alive in. So Will Cane had the most courage in this Western, unlike the other characters. Although, near the ending... his wife was one to help him out and totally go against her beliefs of no violence. So, you can say Mr. Kane had a great influence on the other characters, specifically the secondary characters.

In the Magnificent Seven, this group of Mexicans needed some assistance; therefore they ask others for help. In this western, it is a little different then High Noon, due to the fact that in the Magnificent Seven we now have more than one specific hero and instead there are seven. The cast is a dream team of the 60s real men. As we know in the beginning these Mexicans were too afraid to do anything themselves, therefore they go outside to go and get people to help them. In this film, the Mexicans are afraid of getting hurt or letting something bad happen to their little town. They do not normally fight for the bad; all they want to do is just live in peace, serenity and just mind their own business without any troubles involved. As the movie progresses, we see how as time went by the Mexicans learnt a thing or two from the others. The ‘Magnificent Seven’ team members all were different and unique in their own ways. With their separate knowledge, everyone benefited from one another and everyone learnt from each other. In addition, every single person as already an expert at what they did by themselves, and when you combine them, you get a team of strong men ready to take down any bad guys and create harmony between everyone.

Every Western film varies from the other. You can get those Westerns that were recorded all in black and white and with simple storylines. Others would come in color, and have a higher chance of having an interesting storyline. As for High Moon and The Magnificent Seven, one was a little uninteresting and unpleasing to watch and that one was High Noon only for the soul reason it was in black and white, and only one soundtrack was repeating itself throughout the film. The Magnificent Seven grabbed my attention instantly and it was amusing to watch, with a little bit of comedy added here and there and because of the fact there was a lot of drama, suspense, and not to mention, a bunch of action involved as well.

Batman Begins - Symbolism

The use of symbolism in films is to represent ideas or qualities. When you see a reappearing object in a film, you know that somehow there is a symbolic meaning attached to that object. As for the movie Batman Begins, a variety of symbols were used throughout the film.

To start off, one symbol that was very constant throughout the whole movie was the use of masks. Take for example Batman himself. Without the mask to compliment the rest of his costume, Bruce Wayne would just plainly be Bruce Wayne. The Mask is what makes Bruce Wayne transform truly and uniquely into Batman. As Bruce Wayne is dressed in costume, he can do just about anything and save anyone in danger within a matter of seconds! Otherwise, minus the costume, you are also eliminating the “super powers” Batman possesses. Taking into consideration that fact, also the villain (the antagonist) in the film, Dr. Jonathan Crane who played the scarecrow, also has a mask. As Batman uses his skills and all for good, the scarecrow is the complete opposite. For Dr. Jonathan Crane’s undercover mask, the scarecrow mask is used in the film to bring out the worries and the fears hidden within the other characters in this film. Therefore, the scarecrow mask was used to in the film to serve as an “evil” symbol as Batman holds the title as the ‘good guy’.

A second symbol I noticed return quite a few times in the movie was the stethoscope. In the beginning of the movie, we are shown when Bruce was a younger boy with his father and they both use the stethoscope to listen to each other’s hearts. For Bruce’s father, Mr. Thomas Wayne, that stethoscope was used to help people medically and to assist in medical issues. His father was simply there to aid in people’s lives if they were suffering or not. As time went on and after the heartbreaking death of both of his parents, the stethoscope had no meaning really, not until Bruce grew up older and decided to go and live again back in the mansion him and his parents all lived in. As time passes, he then uses the stethoscope for good as well and to continue the good deeds his father was doing. However, instead of giving any medical assistance to anyone, he further used his knowledge and strength to use this stethoscope as an influence and to follow him around him when he was rescuing others from dangerous situations. He was primarily the hero of Gotham city who went by the name ‘Batman’.

Last but not least, the third symbol that I thought stood out the most as well was the Wayne’s family mansion. As a young child, Bruce grew up in that house and that mansion has much memories of his past. Memories of his father, his mother and his childhood experiences as well. When Bruce therefore decides to go back and live in the mansion, the furniture and everything is just covered in pure white sheets. You can tell no one had been there for a while and things were still the way they were when he was a young boy. After deciding to live in the mansion, Bruce starts a new beginning for him and that mansion. Soon enough an addition of new memories would be added on as well. Later in the film, Bruce decides to hold his birthday party at his mansion. It was time to celebrate and probably celebrate a new start of a life for him. Desolately, his former mentor Henri Ducard was also at his party. Some issues and problems happened, leading Henri to burn the mansion down to pieces. After some time, near the ending of this film Bruce Wayne is found building a new home, similar to his first one, but this time with a stronger foundation and with an open mind to live a wealthy and caring life like his father did.

Scene Analysis: Oh... the MISERYY

In this specific scene, Annie Wilkes provides Paul Sheldon with a typewriter. She wants him to write more Misery books. However, Annie got Paul the wrong typewriting paper, so Paul asks Annie is she could kindly step out of the house for a bit just to get him the correct batch of paper. Annie, hesitant at first, accepts and is on her way to the little convenience stores back in town. As Annie drives away, Paul decides to somehow try to escape from that freak’s house. With his one and only help, he uses a bobby pin to unlock his door leading him directly to the living room and the kitchen. All this, is shown to the audience through point of view, various canted angles, as well as several medium and close up shots.

Paul leaves his room and starts probing around this empty hose as he wheels himself around in physical pain. He passes through the room where Annie keeps all her medicine hidden. As he enters that room, an angle of destiny is used as Paul Sheldon desperately grabs the pills from the top shelf. He then proceeds to the living room. In the living room, we are shown a pan of the living room and Paul is filmed at a medium shot, sometimes close up, where we can see clearly facial expression and the emotions that he was releasing. After hunting and examining the living room, the kitchen was his next stop, and possibly his final stop in the house.

Once at the kitchen shot, the viewers are given a pan of the kitchen and a point of view shot as well from Paul’s position. As he peruses throughout the kitchen, he spots the kitchen door that could help him escape the house. We are then shown a ground shot when Paul is crawling his way to safety. As he reaches the door, he struggles to reach for the door knob. However, the door knob on that kitchen door was like as if he is reaching for his last hope. Suddenly, it seems as if his whole escaping plan just might not work out after all. Shown with a long shot, we see Annie driving and approaching the house. Closer… and closer… and even closer! Ahhhhhh!!! This is where a shot reverse shot also comes into play. As Paul hears the car approaching, he scurries back to his wheelchair so he could reach his room in time before she got a chance to enter house.

As Annie is walking towards the house, Paul is wheeling himself to safety. As Annie gets her keys to open the front door, Paul is locking and closing the door with the bobby pin. Right there, a match cut was used to link their simultaneous movement. Thankfully, Paul made into his room in all safety in time; nonetheless he was dripping in perspiration.

I found this overall scene to be quite stressful. I personally got so into the movie and I couldn’t even take my eyes off the screen. With the use of an enthralling soundtrack playing in the background and action happening... it was too much to handle! The purpose of this scene was to mainly link the characters. Showing how Annie was the antagonist, in a way, and Paul being the protagonist. Paul was having thoughts of leaving that house as soon as possible, and Annie wanted the opposite, meaning she was locking and isolating Paul inside the house. Taken as a whole, this movie is one of my favourite movies. Hence, having such great tension and action and winning an Oscar.