Cinema Studies Final Term Paper

 

  

Term Paper

Submitted By

Krishna Gopal Basak

181012015

 

Submitted to

Nandita Tabassum Khan

Senior Lecturer

 

 

Course Name: Cinema Studies

Course Code: MSJ11331

 

Introduction

Auteur Theory is a style of viewing films in which the filmmaker is seen as the "author." According to the Auteur hypothesis, a film is a mirror of its director's aesthetic vision. It is ascribed to Cahiers du cinéma reviewers, many of whom went on to become filmmakers of the French New Wave.

It's impossible to avoid comparing films, performers, and directors. And by doing so, we can see that certain filmmakers have a distinct style and set of characteristics that are unique to them. (Not necessarily 'excellent,' but 'distinctive,' in my opinion.) The Auteur Theory is based on Quentin Tarantino's total control over his films over the course of his career. Tarantino is recognized for his nonlinear writing, lengthy, heated dialogue, and delightfully theatrical violence. He also has a distinct stylistic tone that is difficult to duplicate. Tarantino fits the definition of "authorship" in the literal sense, since he creates his own screenplays and is often engaged in the creation of his films. A director's auteur status is generally determined by a unique or individually distinctive usage of mise en scene. Women who have been victims of male violence take revenge on their abusers in Kill Bill and Deathproof. In the film Inglourious Basterds, Jews seek vengeance against Nazis, including blowing up Hitler himself. Tarantino's films have a moral ambiguity about them. Characters in Quentin Tarantino's films, mainly criminals, frequently engage in conversations concerning their code of ethics. The crooks in Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs debate whether giving another man's wife a foot massage justifies throwing the masseur down a balcony. There is a loss of historical truth in the postmodern situation, resulting in the formation of a new sort of flatness, depthlessness, and superficiality. This aesthetic and other repercussions of the 'commodification of things' have ramifications across the entire culture: not only in art, architecture, and the apparent order of space, but also in movies, literature, poetry, and philosophy. Tarantino frequently used the role of "fate" or "accident" in his screenplays, beginning with Reservoir Dogs, when the "mole" cop gets shot on the spur of the moment. Varying camera motions, distances, and viewpoints are characteristics of Tarantino's mise en scene technique. The camera shifts in Tarantino's flicks as the action unfolds. This makes the violence feel more personal and urgent, rather than less. Tarantino utilizes montage (a film editing technique) to depict bits of a guy being chewed apart by dogs in Django. Tarantino is known for using 'trunk' shots, which are akin to "corpse" shots but with the camera gazing out of a tight location. Other hallmarks of Tarantino films include anachronistic settings and costumes, as well as gruesome torture sequences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arguments

Django Unchained

Quentin Taratinos' Django Unchained (2012), a bloody, bizarre, and vindictive Western film depicting the exploitation of the belly chapters of American history Here is an exploration of what slavery might have been like in the mid-1800s, or a depiction of a Western pre-Civil War. The movie is based primarily on Django (1966) and Mandingo (1975), and Catarantino combines his own style. The film features painful gore, action, wit, cinematography and bizarre characters. And all of this makes the movie believable in a solid plot and makes it one of the most uniquely westernized creations ever made. The movie begins with a line of slaves chained to each other as they walk through the dark jungle, the first scene of the movie. A dentist named Draza Schultz (Christopher Waltz) appears and asks for a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx). Dr. King Schultz negotiates with the slave owner to buy Django because he is valuable for finding people of interest. ..After acquiring Django, they rode across the country to the beautiful mountains of the Midwest, the starry skies of Wyoming, the desert to the west, the snowy mountains of the Rockies, and then to their destination Plantation where they were Kentucky's greatest slaves Meets the owner. Django meets some slaves where most of them are uneducated and talkative

Like director Spike Lee who said "I can't talk about it because I can't see it, I'm just saying it's disrespectful to my ancestors It’s just me ... I'm not speaking for anyone else. ". Spike makes a valid point here; the word n ​​is used extensively in the movie Tarantino’s goal is to make realistic movies and often focus on sensitive issues in history

The title sequence of 'Django Unchained,' a current (2012) western, follows the conventional traditions of western title sequences. However, the film's opening scene integrates them in such a manner that it fits into the western genre while also having a feeling of elegance and refinement to some level. 'Django Unchained' is a more contemporary western that successfully employs the clichés. The film appears realistic and matches the genre, yet the quality of cinematography and editing hints at contemporary technology. The title sequence succeeds in capturing the audience's attention while also providing information about the characters in the film. In the dinner scene at Candyland, the film's themes of acting and performance resurface. Schultz may wield his expertise over Candie in a number of ways since he is a continental European. Schultz's Germanic ancestors enable him to communicate with Broomhilda in German, ensuring that they are not overheard. Candie presents the skull of a deceased slave named Old Ben after Stephen tells her that Schultz and Django are conducting a scam. Candie's belief in phrenology is simply another attempt to cloak his savagery and stupidity in knowledge and superiority. The subject of "sweets" appears again in the dinner scene, symbolizing Candie and Stephen's moral rot. "Django Unchained" is a rousing vengeance actioner set only two years before the Civil War in the American South. Dr. King Schultz, who is shocked by the discriminatory traditions of the antebellum South, frees Django and trains him as a bounty hunter. He joins forces with Schultz to deliver the homicidal Brittle brothers' reward to him. They discover her in the clutches of Calvin Candie, the infamous Candyland proprietor (played by Kurt Russell). Slaves are taught by Ace Woody (Kurt Russell) and forced to fight one another for sport at Cleopatra's Club in the film.

Dr. King Schultz trains Django (Jamie Foxx) as a bounty hunter after he is liberated from slavery.

Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) is a bounty hunter from Germany who instructs and works with Django.

Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the ruthless and cruel proprietor of the "Candyland" plantation.

Candie's right-hand man/head house slave is Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson).

Django's lovely wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), is a slave.

Ace Woody (Kurt Russell) is a slave trainer on Calvin Candie's plantation who teaches the slaves to fight for fun.

Scotty (Sacha Baron Cohen), Spencer Gordon Bennet (Don Johnson), Roy (Anthony LaPaglia), and others are among the other characters.

 

Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino, the filmmaker of Inglourious Basterds, shattered the final (known) cinematic threshold. He allowed for the rewriting of holy history for the sake of communal emotional release. Fanzoni thought he could utilize his "dramatic license" in Gladiator since no one would notice it was old. Plays in ancient Greece were frequently held in the same venue and for a short period of time, usually a single day. All types of story traditions that were unfathomable when theatre began will be accepted, believed, comprehended, and given a 10 slot today.

No one knew if viewers could understand a tale just by seeing it develop in ancient times. We now have no doubt that they can, and films have demonstrated this to great success. Perhaps the movies have assisted us in discovering mental abilities that we already have, or perhaps our brains have developed to meet the challenges of modern technologies. Movies, more than any other kind of art, can provide the multisensory amazing. These were all fairly harsh restrictions not long ago. It was thought that viewers wouldn't be able to retain their suspension of disbelief while they switched between forms. And audiences have taken it in stride. Quentin Tarantino has once again used narrative tropes while pushing them to their limits. Shoshanna's tale isn't complete on its own. It's possible that depicting Shoshanna's retribution as effective may be perceived as trivializing the issue. In reality, Hitler was such a powerful antagonist that despite several attempts, no one was able to assassinate him. A film like this may look to be using WWII and the Holocaust as a pretext to blow up a movie theater. Quentin Tarantino has once again used narrative tropes while pushing them to their limits. Shoshanna's tale isn't complete on its own. It's possible that depicting Shoshanna's retribution as effective may be perceived as trivializing the issue. In reality, Hitler was such a powerful antagonist that despite several attempts, no one was able to assassinate him. A film like this may look to be using WWII and the Holocaust as a pretext to blow up a movie theater. Quentin Tarantino's newest picture, as usual, draws on a tried-and-true formula but improves on it. One of the reasons we enjoy it so much is because it has a healthy amount of audacity, wit, and comedy. Let's take a look at how the film sticks to and breaks from the structure, chapter by chapter.

Chapter One Hans Landa's ruthlessness extends beyond the murder of the Dreyfus family to his ability to manipulate LaPadite into betraying his pals. We're left feeling outraged and powerless in the wake of what we've seen.

Chapter Two The narrative of Lt. Aldo Raine, who terrorized the German army and enraged Hitler by sparing one soldier from each raid to return to the ranks and report on the soldiers' ruthlessness, is told in "The Basterds." We watch Aldo in action with a bunch of German POWs on the front lines as Hitler learns the specifics of Aldo's severe methods. The first two chapters' structural role is to merely set the stage.

Chapter Three The film begins with Shoshanna, a well-known movie theater owner in Paris, being courted by German war hero Frederich Zoller, who subsequently persuades Joseph Goebbels to have his film debut at her theater. She and her projectionist Marcel will set fire to the theater, which will house all of the Nazi officials.

Chapter Four Aldo and the Basterds (in which Archie Hicox, a British army operative/film critic, is briefed on Operation Kino in London, meets up with Aldo and his co-stars in Nadine, France, meets up with German film star Bridget von Hammersmark at the tavern La Louisiane, and is killed by German soldiers) devises a different plan for carrying out the operation. We simply require one plan in terms of structure. As a result, Shoshanna's choice also serves as a proxy for Bridget's. The plot would be slowed down if both were fully explained. As they gaze out a second-floor window, we notice Hicox and the Basterds have reunited.

Chapter Five There are flashbacks to how she and Marcel worked under duress to make their unique film for the Nazis. By the time Shoshanna arrives at the premiere, all historical (and many traditional) narrative boundaries have been breached. All we have to do now is turn the characters loose on each other and see how they react. That is exactly what Tarantino does.

 

The Hateful Eight

The Hateful Eight was released in late 2015, and it swiftly reminded audiences why Tarantino is the reigning king of blending machismo and violence in a magnificent manner. Tarantino has reminded us of the harsh masculinity and proclivity toward excessive violence since his career began over two decades ago.  These films' dialogue differs from most others in that it does not need to focus on the storyline but rather on the characters. Tarantino has an extraordinary ability to get so much information from a seemingly innocuous exchange. The Hateful Eight is a murder mystery with a Western twist. The absence of violence in the early half of the film may surprise some viewers. Every Tarantino picture is filled with violence, but there is more to it than what we see on screen. There's also the violence generated by the discussion. Tarantino has written and directed violent parts for both men and women, giving all genders the opportunity to exhibit aggression on film. Tarantino revisits his previous work in Hateful Eight, bringing together a cast of male actors who are all competing for the top spot. Masculinity is the polar opposite of femininity, with the two occupying opposing extremes of a spectrum. In this picture, there is relatively little violence that occurs off-screen. Tarantino makes it a point to portray practically every act of violence that a character does. When we meet John Ruth, possibly the most vicious character in Hateful Eight, everything becomes clear. Major Marquis Warren is shown as a man who is both fierce and serene. We observe the line between hyper-masculinity and hyper-masculinity for the first time in the film. Guns are featured throughout the film, just as they are in any western or action movie. From John Wayne's films through Clint Eastwood's, the presence of a gun has always been a hallmark in every western. Tarantino, unlike Eastwood, does not utilize the pistol as a weapon of defense or punishment. Instead, it's a way for all of these characters to flaunt their hyper-masculine muscles.

The cast of The Hateful Eight is all male, with one girl at the core of the story. There is no urge or want for violence to occur, as one might expect from a film that does not openly depict violence or treatment of others. One of the places where Tarantino deviates from his own flicks is in this area. Many of his films' most violent moments are not shown at all. This isn't the case with Hateful Eight, where a lot of the violence is described in graphic detail. Tarantino incorporates a paradox in this picture that sets it apart from his others.
Despite the fact that the action is little throughout the film, the viewer's gaze is drawn to the screen. This is due to the characters' male discourse, which makes us feel as though anything may happen at any time. Tarantino is well aware of this and plays with it until the viewer sees the blood start to flow. There are a lot of racial and ethnic insults in the movie Hateful Eight. Tarantino's writing is unapologetically honest and loyal to the character. The key point these guys are making is that they don't consider black people to be experts in their field.

Even though hearing so many slurs in one film may be disconcerting for viewers, the film stays authentic to its time. In a film, the usage of the 'n word' is not taken lightly. It has the same effect as physical violence in that it shocks the audience and draws them into a claustrophobic universe.
In Quentin Tarantino's works, there is a strong association between violence and masculinity. The most lavish and violent picture in the director's two-decade career is The Hateful Eight. Tarantino and violent masculinity are inextricably linked, as evidenced by films like these.

 

Conclusion

Writer theory is generally regarded as a unique style of filmmaking, through which the filmmaker is seen as the "author". According to Auteur, the film is seen as a reflection of the director's aesthetic vision. Some filmmakers have their own distinctive features.

As we see in the film, women who have been victims of male violence seek revenge for their abuse in Kill Bill and Deathproof movies. Again, in the Inglourious Basterds film, the Jews seek revenge against the Nazis, including the overthrow of Hitler. And these films show that there is moral ambiguity in Tarantino's films. Also, if we look at the characters in Quentin Tarantino's films, it is easy to see that his main characters are mainly criminals, and they are often involved in their ethical conversations. And in such a film, the historical truth is lost in the post-modern situation, which creates a new kind of flatness, depth and excess. This aesthetic and other reactions to the 'commercialization of things' affect the whole culture: not only the apparent order of art, architecture and space, but also film, literature, poetry and philosophy. ..We see a bloody, bizarre, and vengeful portrayal through these films. We see the absurdity of the Das tradition through such films as DanjDanjO. Here Tarantino basically combines his own style, which includes painful gore, action, wit, cinematography and bizarre characters. ..The inclusion of all this in a solid plot makes the movie believable, and each of them is the most unique in making it. He allowed the rewriting of sacred history in the interest of communal liberation. Fanzoni thought he could use his "dramatic license" on the gladiator because no one would notice it was old. But that was his misconception. Tarantino is known for using 'trunk' shots in his films. These shorts look like "corpse" shots, but the camera looks out of a tight position. Other features of the Tarantino movie include the immaculate setting and costume, as well as the horrific torture sequence.

Reference

Hoffman, Karen D. “Giving up the Gun: Violence in the Films of Clint Eastwood.” The Philosophy of Clint Eastwood, edited by Richard T. McClelland and Brian B. Clayton, University Press of Kentucky, 2014, pp. 131–156, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hk087.10.

Grønstad, Asbjørn. “Screen Violence: Five Fallacies.” Transfigurations: Violence, Death and Masculinity in American Cinema, Amsterdam University Press, 2008, pp. 25–62, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n1k3.6.

Greven, David. “Contemporary Hollywood Masculinity and the Double-Protagonist Film.” Cinema Journal, vol. 48, no. 4, 2009, pp. 22–43., www.jstor.org/stable/25619726.

Cavallero, Jonathan J. “Quentin Tarantino: Ethnicity and the Postmodern.” Hollywood's Italian American Filmmakers: Capra, Scorsese, Savoca, Coppola, and Tarantino, University of Illinois Press, 2011, pp. 125–150, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt1xch6p.9.

"Quentin Tarantino, Spike Lee, Violence and Racism in The Last Days of Obama." The Artifice. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2017. https://the-artifice.com/quentin-tarantino-spike-lee.../ 

Eschholz, Sarah, and Jana Bufkin. “Crime in the Movies: Investigating the Efficacy of Measures of Both Sex and Gender for Predicting Victimization and Offending in Film.” Sociological Forum, vol. 16, no. 4, 2001, pp. 655–676., www.jstor.org/stable/684828.

Thompson, A. (2012, April 12). ‘Django Unchained’ Character Guide and Official Synopsis. Indiewire. https://www.indiewire.com/2012/04/django-unchained-character-guide-and-official-synopsis-181902/

Film Analysis Of Django Unchained - 700 Words | 123 Help Me. (n.d.). 123helpme.Com/. https://www.123helpme.com/essay/Film-Analysis-Of-Django-Unchained-710474

robmillsmedia. (2013, April 24). Django Unchained Title Sequence Analysis! Rob Mills AS-Media Blog. https://robmillsmedia.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/django-unchained-title-sequence-analysis/

Tarantino, B. Q. (n.d.). Django Unchained the Dinner Sequence Summary and Analysis. Copyright GradeSaver, 1999 - 2022. https://www.gradesaver.com/django-unchained/study-guide/summary-the-dinner-sequence

Lanouette, J. (2010, March 30). Inglourious Basterds « Screentakes. Screentakes.Com/. https://www.screentakes.com/inglourious-basterds/