Orpheus

I found the movie Orpheus very hard to follow because of all the symbolize and images that created a much deeper meaning to the film's significance. Overall, I felt that Cocteau did an amazing job with his artistic use of visual elements. He really showed the viewer life as it really is perceived and easily transitioned us into the underworld involving myth by creating the camera shots to be fuzzy...almost dreamlike. He also portrayed the underworld in contrast with the world of the living in a way that enabled the viewer to easily decipher between the two worlds (living and dead). The world of the living was shot in daylight in clean/ordered surroundings. The underworld reflected the devastation left from WWII. There was rubble, disorientation, and broken down buildings in every camera shot. It truly reflected the chaos of the situation. I also loved Cocteau's use of the mirror being a portal to the underworld, it was really a neat cinematic technique. To me, it showed us that death is almost within reach and not so final with Orpheus stepping in and out of the worlds of the living and the dead.

On a different note, I found Orpheus to not be charming at all! Yes, he had a great look but he was such a rude, depressed, and self-centered man. I found it hard to believe, as other characters were talking, that his marriage to Eurydice was anything amazing. All her friends kept reassuring her (when he went missing for a night) just how much he is completely in love with her yet all we see is him rudely brushing her off and ignoring her. I also couldn't understand why they slept in separate beds!It was sad to watch him unravel so quickly. First, he lost his touch in writing profound poetry, he has to deal with a younger boy stealing his light, and than he totally disregards his wife and instead falls in love with his death (whom I found spider like). A peer in the class made a great analysis in stating that by Orpheus falling in love with his death he is almost giving up in a form of suicide, for they can only be together in the underworld. This comment really shed more light on helping me understand the movie. Orpheus falling in love with death floored me!!Throughout the movie, you believe he is going to the underworld to save his wife yet it's really to see his death...twisted. I never saw this coming however I did see his death falling for him. I really liked how Cocteau had death dressed all in black but changed her clothing to white when she was being confronted by her watcher/driver about her love for Orpheus. To me, this symbolized that even though she is dead and meant to feel nothing, she has life in feeling love for him.

I found the reading difficult to understand but by having discussed it in class I believe I am getting it. Greene states that Orpheus could not be separated from his power to enchant, to seduce. This is true yet he is evenly seduced by his own death, whom is an ice cold woman of cruelty. I do not completely understand masochism....but I feel like Orpheus undergoes this pain and pleasure by wanting his death. She causes pain yet he seeks her pleasure. This pleasure brings him to his best work and closer to his own death.

Vertigo

I really enjoyed watching the 1944 film Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock much more than Laura. I found it to be a great murder mystery with a twist I never saw coming. However, certain aspects of the movie was much like a reworking of the film Laura.
For example, Scottie was defined by two things: his acrophobia and his obsession with Madeline. Madeline's character had some depth but was merely an object in the movie to define the male protagonist, Scottie. Just like in the movie Laura, where she was only seen as an object of lust men obsessed over. Scottie did not love Madeline for her personality but her image. How could he love such a twisted woman? Part of me feels as though he loved her because he wanted to be the one to save her. He couldn't save his partner from falling off the roof top. This guilt consumes him in now wanting to be the one who saves Madeline from her possessed like state.
While I felt Madeline to be a bit dry, Midge was the complete opposite. Midge shocked me! I couldn't believe how she went from a motherly friend to a jealous one. I thought she would be the only stable character in the film. She had me floored the minute she pulled that psycho move of painting her face onto the body portrait of Carlotta. In the beginning of the film she was very upfront with Scottie about everything. Why she took the route of not doing this when wanting to tell him of her feelings is beyond me. I guess it is harder to tell than to show someone how you feel about certain things, especially love. I just feel like she pulled the typical move most my friends make. The minute Scottie was taken by another woman, it was a race to get him back.
In class discussion, I found it very interesting how one peer pointed out that it wasn't just her painting that freaked most of us out but the fact that she included her glasses. This was very much a true thing for me! In our society, glasses such as Midge's, are not found to be an object of glamour. The way she included them confuses me. Perhaps she cannot see herself without them. I really don't know.
Another aspect that bothered me was how Judy just let Scottie transform her into Madeline. I couldn't believe Scottie had become crazy enough to fixate Judy as Madeline. He really went overboard in his breakdown attempt to restore Madeline's image and their love by transforming Judy. I felt as though Judy allowed him to make these changes because of the guilt she felt. She wanted him to love her again no matter who she was or who she even looked like. They were both just two desperate people trying to regain the love they once had.
On a cinematic note, the trombone effect (so often done with the camera) was truly clever of Hitchcock. It really brought the viewers into Scottie's mental state of acrophobia and at times his overwhelming confusion, allowing us to feel a bit of what he was experiencing. In the last scene when Scottie was confronting Judy about her part in the murder plot, the lighting casted a shadow over half his face. I felt that this effect symbolized Scottie's two mental states, one being sane and the other insane. It was showing us Scottie coming back to reality after being away on his long mental breakdown.

Laura

I found the 1944 noir film "Laura" by Otto Preminger to be a strange movie with a surprising twist. I found it both irritating and impossible to relate to the main character Laura due to her being unstable and indecisive as a character. To begin with, the only way you truly know of her is by what other characters (mainly her love interests) say about her. Half way through the movie she makes her introduction which truly doesn't change the scene. Laura is rather an object of lust than a real character in this movie. I feel as though she was created this way and not as a relate able character to play up her love interests personalities and rather how different they are from one another. The only true thing that connects them is their infatuation with Laura which in turn defines them. This love triangle alone makes the movie hard to follow. Laura is also hard to understand because she doesn't even have a male type to define her as a person. She attracts Lydecker, whom is a possessive and intelligent older man, Carpenter, a young charming dead beat womanizer, and Detective McPherson, a handsome man whom embodies the heroic manly man that needs saving. I feel as though this movie was filmed to expose the three different types of men in which woman fall for; and not to purely expose social satire of upper class human beings, as Nick Schager writes in his film review. With Laura not having one love type, you can assume she has multiple personalities since she cannot make up her mind and instead let's others do her deciding for her.
I see Laura as an object also because of the way she lives more in her centerpiece portrait (which consumes every camera angle when in her home) than as a person. This portrait plays a bigger part in affecting her love interests than she does in person. Her portrait is the living room centerpiece, that reveals Laura in a seductive yet beautiful pose. The painting produces a luminous glow that surrounds her body's outline and contrasts it with a dark background; making her lure in those like Detective McPherson by making her seem irresistible and goddess like. Laura is truly filmed to reflect man's desires and the female product of mans imagination. It is not Laura's personality that men love but her image.
In class discussion, we discussed the purpose of the broken clock as being the final ending scene. I feel as though no one could produce a satisfying answer to why this was chosen to end the film. My only thought would be that it symbolized the end of Lydeckers life. Throughout the movie the clock is filmed as being a "hey look at me" clue to solve the mystery. I never realized it until a student peer pointed out that in certain scenes the clock actually divides Lydecker and McPherson when they are discussing Laura's death. I feel as though the director chose to film the clock in this way to provide the viewer with little hints of who the killer is. To tell us it is right under our noses. The clock continues ticking until Lydeckers death symbolizing the mystery solved.
In reading the articles, I feel as though Laura does not fully capture the description of "The Femme Fatale." Yes, she is the object of obsession for men, however, I feel she does not defy the control of men nor the refute on traditional womanhood. In this particular film, Laura is presented as a sweet, innocent, and helpless schoolgirl with a soft spoken voice. I do not see her as being romantically unhappy but rather indecisive on what to do or who to chose in love. I view Laura not as a seductive woman but as a weak little girl needing direction. I feel as though her remaining to be an independent woman is not a choice but instead a result of her indecisiveness.

The Third Man

I found the movie The Third Man to be very interesting and enjoyable. I loved the suspense and twist in characters, however I felt as though I saw certain plot aspects coming. Maybe I watch too many movies, but I noticed a lot of foreshadowing that gave certain aspects away from the characters role as well as what Holly was in for. First off, When Holly walked under the ladder in the opening scene upon arriving in Vienna, I felt as though he walked into a trap that awaited him. He quickly looked up after walking under the ladder as if sensing it himself. Secondly, when Holly met that strange feminine man at the cafe to inquire about the death of his dear friend Harry Lime, I noticed he wore a glove on this right hand. I perceive the right hand as truthful, honest. I suppose I perceive this because we pledge with our right hand. By wearing a single black glove on his right hand, to me, foreshadowed a switch in character to more of darker involved man with a motive of his own.

As far as the way in which the movie was filmed, I found it rather interesting. I noticed that the camera angles always went slanted during secretive conversions involving Lime's death, which at times threw me out of my focus. I felt that the zither music did not truly fit the style of this film until we discussed it in class. It annoyed me that the movie dealt a lot with confusing circus like features but then I realized these elements captured the chaotic sense of the movie. The strange little boy, the ball, the balloons, the farris wheel, along with the larger then life shadows reflected the craze Holly was consumed in. It seemed unreal as well as chaotic, much like a circus. I also loved how one student pointed out that the shadows represented another world that was occurring along side reality. I noticed the heavy use of shadows but had a hard time understanding its meaning/symbolism. I guess I feel as though the use of shadows was used to capture a deeper darker meaning. The shadow world is a world that captured the characters grim emotions that was reflected upon the walls.

The article " The Revenant of Vienna: A Critical Comparison of Carol Reed's Film The Third Man and Bram Stoker's Novel Dracula," was really interesting. The purpose alone, Lime compared to Dracula, had me make some comparisons on my own before reading the article. I noticed a lot of similar things but I also learned a lot too. What I did notice was how Lime only really revealed himself at night, he wore dark clothing, vanished without a trace at times and had a dark/twisted respect for the life of humanity. I learned from this article, that like Dracula, Lime is hardly ever present throughout the film. You truly learn of him from what other characters say about him. I found it also very interesting how both Dracula and Lime first appear standing in doorways. Really cool stuff. I wonder if director Carol Reed meant to portray Lime as being quite similar to Dracula on purpose.....

Overall, awesome movie and very interesting article.