Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954) vs Disturbia (Caruso, 2007)

Because Disturbia is an adaptation of Rear Window, it only makes sense that there would be extreme similarities between the two. There’s the confined male lead character, who for some reason or another cannot leave the place where he resides nor does he have any form of entertainment besides looking out of his window and spying on the neighbors. For James Stewart in Rear Window, his broken leg and 1950’s lack of technological entertainment keeps him looking out of his window, whereas Shia LaBeouf in Disturbia is cutoff from television and other forms of entertainment because he’s being punished for wearing and ankle bracelet. Both have a cute blonde supporting actress who takes the part of their love interests, as well as put themselves at risk to get a closer look at the suggested killer. Both films also have that funny, getting into trouble best friend at their side who help motivate the suspicion that the main character has. Even the methods of creating suspense are relatively similar, the extremely quiet, musically lacking scenes right before something unexpected happens, the use of shadows to hide the main characters as they peer out their windows to remain unseen. The close up, tight framing used when the killer peers straight at the camera to connect with the line of sight the main character has, to show that the killer knows what’s going on and that bad things are about to happen. In Rear Window, the killer comes straight over to James Stewarts apartment, and throws him out a window, whereas in Disturbia, there are gorier scenes that follow that reveal the killer has murdered, not just one woman as in Rear Window, but many. Since Disturbia is 50 years newer than Rear Window, it only makes sense that the setting, plot, and characters had to be modified to keep up with relatable material for the present viewers. 

The main difference lies mainly in the technological props within the movie. Since Rear Window was set in the 1950s it was more rudimentary, a man just looking through binoculars and a still camera. Disturbia, however, keeps the binoculars, but also introduces the use of cell phones and motion cameras. The use of the cell phone ringtone adds suspense and terror, as the audience realizes that the killer has the phone number of the main character. For example, every time the “Me so horny’ song is heard, the viewer automatically starts associating it to something terrible. Cameras also aid in creating fear in the movie. This is especially apparent which the best friend takes a camera into the killer’s house, and the shaky movements presented on the screen emulate panic and disorder. Fear is then accomplished when the best friend is shown motionless on the floor.

Disturbia was definitely flashier, and more Hollywood than Rear Window which made it more appealing to current audiences who need fast paced action and thrilling suspense. However, I enjoyed Rear Window more, because of its simplicity and the fact that it was able to capture the same emotions, but at a more relatable, everyday level. It is more likely that a neighbor kills one person, than one that has a secret murder room set up.

A Single Man

     Reading the review "A Review of A Single Man" by Betsy Sharkey, I was not really impressed about her criticism of the movie A Single Man. If it had been up to Susan Sonntag, she would have said that Ms Sharkey did not fully meet the requirements of a successful criticism. First of all, Ms. Sharkey barely talks about the form of the movie. She comments on the fact that the movie has a lot of scenes that feel like fashion ads, but doesn’t speak any more about the techniques or details encompassed by the cinematographers. Ms. Sharkey, however, does speak about a specific scene where George ( Colin Firth) is standing on the roof of a building, taking a drag off of a “young hustler’s” (Jon Kortajarena) cigarette. She gave certain details about the setting, colors, costumes, and actions of the characters. Her overall critique was not very effective however. It might have appealed more to an audience who was very interested in the fashion world, and Tom Ford, but it would not capture the attention of the general public. It would have been better, had she commented on the vibrant colors that were brought out in the movie during certain scenes where the main character saw true beauty. She could have also done a better job at discussing how the disrupt camera shots and point of views had a major impact on how the audience viewed the movie. The  broken up views or slow motion scenes ensure that the audience never knows what will happen next or fully get connected to the characters in the movie.
    A major element of mise-en-scene that was brought to my attention, besides the effectiveness of color brightening and dulling, is costumes. Because Tom Ford is a fashion designer, all of the clothes worn in the movie have to be exact, and almost convey a fashion show themselves. The very fact that Tom Ford is in fashion therefore contributes significantly to the overall effectiveness of the movie. One will notice that at the very beginning of the movie, the main character has all of his clothes neatly folded and lined up in his drawers, and that the colors were only composed of black and white articles of clothing. He looks very polished in the beginning. However, as the movie progresses, and he starts to enjoy all of the small things in life and he loosens up, so does his wardrobe. After he tries to commit suicide, he goes up to his friends house for dinner, and one starts to notice that he loses his tie, his shirt becomes unbuttoned, and even his hair starts to become frazzled as he dances in the living room.  After he meets with his student, his wardrobe diminishes even more. He loses all of his clothes when they go swimming and then changes into a bathrobe, in which he later dies of a heart attack. His wardrobe is very important because it mirrors his feelings and actions. In the beginning, he’s very set in his ways, very polished and exact. however, by the end of the movie he’s outgoing, free feeling, and only enjoying the little things.

Psycho

  Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock was most definitely a mind twisting movie that definitely follows the Hermeneutic Code, because of the movies ability to create a riddle in the beginning, and then go on to produce delays and obstacles throughout the story that keep the audience guessing. However, once seen, the movie will never be watched with the same type of suspense and guessing the next time, because of it’s irreversible syuzhet. 

During the exposition, one would think that the movie will be solely about two lovers, Sam and Marion, who are very much in love but won’t get married because Sam doesn’t want Marion to live in poverty. Marion doesn’t care if they live in poverty, as long as they are together and have a respectful relationship. One then realizes that the plot revolves more around Marion alone, and the question proposed in the enigma is if Marion will ever have that respectful relationship with Sam and how she will get it if she herself is not living lavishly working as a secretary for a bank. After she is given the orders to put $40,000 in a safety deposit box, one can see that the money put in front of her creates quite a dilemma. She wants to take it, and probably use it to run away and marry her lover, but is torn because it is obviously not the right thing to do. She then does decide to take the money, and leaves town. One gets the sense that Marion is starting to go crazy because of her paranoid behavior while driving. She constantly looks in the review mirror of her car for suspecting followers and imagines the different conversations that are happening between her coworkers, family, and others involved in the plot thus far. She then stops at Bates Hotel for the night, where she is introduced to a new character, the hotel keeper Norman. A delay is produced shortly after she checks into Bates Hotel. The audience is blocked from ever knowing if Marion will have a happy, respectful, married life with Sam, because she gets brutally murdered by a dark figure while taking a shower. During this scene, she gets slashed many times, and the scene is accompanied by loud harsh music that was probably produced by playing fifty different violins together in what is in our present day referred to as “Slasher music.” Blood is shown as flowing down the drain, and as the scene changes to the next one, the music subsides and the drain hole becomes a close up of dead Marion’s eye. This delay causes readers to have to associate with a new character, and wonder what will happen next if the main character is no longer present in the story. This is when a new enigma is created, because the audience starts to wonder who the crazed character was that murdered marion, and if the hotel keeper, Norman, is also mad because he helped clean up the mess in the bathroom that was supposedly done by his killing mother. The story proceeds to follow him and the characters around him for the remainder of the movie. There is a final disclosure at the very end of the movie, when the audience is told that Marion’s murderer was Norman as his mother. Norman had in fact gone mad, and believed that he was two people in one.
  Since the movie was such a mind twisting movie, people who are really into it can perceive it in many different ways, making it a writerly text type movie. One keeps thinking about wether Marion is going to go crazy or not, especially with the aid of the panicked/creepy music that went along with her moments of paranoia. However, she gets killed in the first third or so of the movie, and being the star of the movie, the audience gets thrown for a loop. They now have to associate with a new character, which becomes the hotel keeper, Norman. Norman talks about being in a mad house and being best friends with his mother, and shows a very intense type of expression on his face when doing so. It makes the audience wonder if there is something really wrong with him. The audience then remains guessing as to what is going on; especially after they find out that his mother, who is heard through many of the scenes yelling at her son, has been dead for ten years. Viewers are forced to think of different solutions to what is going on at the Bates Hotel, but then are given resolution at the very end, which is why it is not considered a readerly text, because details are not just given as “ready-made” meaning throughout the movie. 

Full Metal Jacket

  Before going into this week’s screening of ‘Full metal Jacket,’ I looked up some reviews about the movie to see what it was that I was getting myself into. One of those reviews was 'Full Metal Jacket' by Rita Kemply. 

  Rita’s review of the movie not only gave a long plot synopsis of Kubrick’s film, but also compared this film to some of his other movies to show likenesses to others with respect to his style of movie making. She also compared it to some films that were not by him to show stylistic likenesses and differences. Besides the plot, she also spoke about how all of the characters in the beginning of the movie were stripped of their individuality by the fact that everyone’s hair was shaved off so that all the men would look the same. Their individuality was also stripped by the fact that all the men were forced to do the same movements and recite the same songs during routine formations and exercises. tA few of the characters were left to be different. For example Private Pyle was Kubrick’s token ‘psycho’ in this film.  She then states that the first part of the movie is meant to be very precise and structured in order to contrast to the more chaotic second part of the film where the soldiers are on the front line. Rita also mentioned that the metallic, beating, moaning music played an important role in enhancing the destructive feeling given in the movie which was more evident in the times such as where the audience gets ready to find Pyle in the restroom ready to flip out and shoot not only himself, but the Sergeant as well, or when the soldiers on the front line are hunting down the sniper girl. 

  Rita seemed to be pretty literate in the visual literacy of movies, which could be supported by the fact that she stated that Kubrick uses a “stumblecam” or shaky hand like motion when filming the soldier’s movements into the broken down city in order to mimic the motion of a soldier creeping with the others. Her overall review of the movie seems pretty accurate to my opinions of the movie after having seen it. However, her review would not have really made me want to see the movie if it wasn’t required of me. The whole review was very long and made it hard to stay interested.