Daniel Gordon - Aesthetics in Film

Bunny

The short animated film Bunny evoked some very interesting images. The seamless transition from the speckled walls of the oven to the starry sky was one of the most prominent. The juxtaposition of the moths against the celestial light and the starry sky was also stirring. Moths are a creature that is always thought of in a negative light from what I’ve seen. They undergo transformations very similar to those of butterflies, yet moths are thought of as ugly and annoying. We have gardens specifically designed to attract butterflies, while we have scented balls of chemical specifically designed to keep moths away. Perhaps “Bunny” is challenging us to take a deeper look at our first impressions and learn to appreciate the beauty in more than just that which meets our harsh aesthetic standards. The moths are beautiful as they lead the bunny to her afterlife, where she will be reunited with her husband. The very opening shot appeared to be a dove against the sun, a very beautiful image, and pulled back to reveal that it was a moth against a light bulb. My perceptions of aesthetic beauty were challenged as I watched Bunny and saw that the moth was not there to annoy the bunny, but to lead her to rest in the afterlife.
The bunny’s choppy twitchy movements before moving on from life mirror the moth’s. Both are attempting to accomplish a goal and being thwarted. The moth is trying to draw the bunny’s attention to the fact that it is time to move on and the bunny is trying to prepare her meal and keep the moth out of her house. There is a shift however, once the bunny has peacefully entered the afterlife, the moth’s wings and the bunny’s eyes no longer flutter, they float. The wings of the moth function like those of a graceful bird, flapping slowly and rhythmically, while the bunny’s eyes wander, examining her new environment, but the rapid movements and nervous urgency are gone. Once the bunny has surrendered to death, the transition between life and afterlife is peaceful and easy.

Northfork

In these clips from Northfork, there is a clear distinction between man and nature. In the first clip, we see a herd of bison slowly moving from right to left with a boy on the road running from left to right. In the second clip we see a man and his son driving with a coffin on top of their car, but they are an insignificant speck against the mountain ridge that fills three quarters of the frame. What I took from these clips was an idea that nature is enduring. The imagery of the strong mountains that have been there for thousands of years, and the bison, which were almost extinct at one point but have made a comeback gives me the sense of this endurance, while the boy running and the coffin remind me of the fleeting temporality of human life. In these images humanity seems so finite in contrast to nature, which seems infinite in the herd of bison and the powerful mountain ridge.

Paris, Texas

Throughout the clips of Paris, Texas we were presented with all these images of connections and things that connect people, whether communication or travel. Travis always follows a communication path, with his mind stuck on the breakdown in communication that happened between he and his ex-wife. He follows phone lines, train tracks and freeways. When he finally finds her, they are still surrounded by this imagery of communication and communication breakdown. He finds her is a brothel where men use a phone to talk to a woman behind a two-way mirror, so they can hear each other, but she cannot see him until he tells her to turn out her light. And then they can’t even look at each other. The two way mirror was an especially powerful image of communication breakdown as one side receives a clear vision of the other, which receives only its own reflection.

The Wall – Pink Floyd

In The Wall we are confronted with all these images of, quite literally, a wall, and walls. In the school scene we see this labyrinth of walls and students in such straight and perfect lines that they themselves might as well be walls. This corresponds perfectly with the music of course, which states that “all in all you’re just another brick in the wall.” This is how the main character feels at the time, but we come to see that all the experiences he has are really another brick in the wall he builds around himself, which we see destroying anyone in it’s path, locking him up where he feels safe, but will be exposed. We see powerful cartoon shots of different experiences adding to his wall, and his final judgment threatening to tear it down and expose him to all he shut out.

Cabeza de Vaca

The most powerful image I noticed in Cabeza de Vaca was the image of the divide between Alvar and the military captain in the end of the film. This was a great example of the clear benefits of aesthetically strong choices. Alvar has learned to respect and love these people and their culture, while the military captain has his mind set only on conquest and enslaving/converting the native people. Alvar has taken the time to consider these people and what they have to offer as opposed to imposing his own will on them as the military captain is keen on doing. Alvar points across the divide to where natives are bound by the Spanish men and asks the captain if that is the path he wishes Alvar to take, if that is what he considers righteous. The physical separation adds a very real and aesthetic layer to the ideological separation between the two men in this scene.