Sarah Levow, Film Clips

Film Clips

1. Bunny Short

Burst thoughts: bright, heaven, moth, high contrast lighting, extreme closeups, ingredients, high shot, lost, darkness, into light, message not seen, mission, anger, transformation/metamorphosis, guardian: coming to take her “home”, amazing grace

Reflection: The clip seems to be about “bunny's” husband, who is implied to be dead, coming to escort her to the afterlife. This reminds me of my mom telling me stories about people she knows who, on their death bed, have suggested that they are seeing people that have been dead for years. My mom always told me that she believes that the dead people are those that are coming to escort the person away to the afterlife, because not long after the person reports seeing the dead person, that person dies. It is interesting that bunny gets so mad that she smashes the moth and then throws it into her recipe to make sure it is dead. This anger at such a small nuisance seems too much, but the moth/her husband overcomes these obstacles since it is bunny's time.

2. Northfork

Burst thoughts: barren, movement, running, snow, music box, nature, solemn, grey skies, mountains

Reflection: I have yet to watch this film and it was a bit confusing for me. I was nit really sure how to interpret it. I noticed the movement which seemed like a migration to me. The boy seemed like he was in a hurry and he seemed small in comparison to what he was carrying: a burden maybe? Something seemed to have happened in the second clip: a death? The men are all in black with a black car and they look sad. One ma has his head down and distracted.

3. Paris, Texas

   Burst thoughts: dry, empty/barren, scanning landscape, hawk, man covered in dust, confused?, gallon of water, finishes water, close up of lid before dumping it on ground, mission/grass, still empty, nature, cows, walking rather than other form of transportation, one car, travis seems empty, mountain behind each brother (green/fertile behind walt & rocky, mossy behind travis), skeptical of car (gets in back instead of front)/travis missing in civilization, back on mission, nothing is somewhere to travis, sepia tone, light rain/wandering in desert, in town he follows straight paths, looking for something in civilization, high shot of travis, low shot of boy, sitting in tall grass/green, carnival music, man shouting, overpass, crazy, pats crazy man on back, looks back

   Reflection: The dust seems to play a major role in the first scene. It is everywhere and the camera pans to show that the landscape is barren; even the man is covered in the dust. What caught my eye was that the man put the lid back on the empty gallon of water container before dumping it on the ground. In the second clip, Travis seems to be on a mission. He stops and goes with his brother, but he is very skeptical of it. His mind seems as empty as the landscape, yet there is still something there. He never stops himself from going with his brother. In the final clip, I wasn't really sure what to think, but I agree with the comment in class that it is a crazy guy meeting another crazy guy; one just seems crazier.

4. The Wall

   Burst thoughts: grey sky , animation, black bird like airplane, music in minor, creatures in sewers (faces are gas masks), airplanes turn to crosses, blood running into drains, “good bye blue sky”/”we don't need no education”, words contradict education through grammar, single file lines (like zombies/walking in unison), no windows, factory, labyrinth, masks, meat grinder, rioting, destruction, fire, artist as failure/”backs against the wall”, animation, red flower penetrating white/pink flower, dragons, praying mantis, cars/car parts as wall, flower to barbed wire, wall breaks through church, child to teenager who gets head bashed in by policeman, constant transformation, puppet schoolmaster, judge as asshole, lone leaf transforming into falling man, mother's arms as wall, eye as portal, women as evil

   Reflection: I feel that Pink Floyd is trying to say that any sort of institution (school, work, religion) is negative and shields people from themselves and knowledge. Those who escape the “wall,” such as the children fighting the education system, are able to attack the system and do thIngs the way they want to, otherwise they are destined to die, such as the youth who gets his head bashed in by the police baton. I was not really sure what to make of the transformations. I think that they could represent different meanings, but also represent the common theme of change. Everything is always changing and moving and nothing is as it seems. Only when people escape the confines of the “wall” can they transform.

5. Cabeza de Baca

   Burst thoughts/discussion: chaos, arrows, priest holding cross with multiple arrows in back, running, lizard teased to become angry, running through water, no language, escape, circular path, music heightens tension, fetal position, lizard's entrapment: picture of world (circle with axis in center), poem: conquest of peninsula by moors (moors and spaniards living together), zoom (trapped in small portion of the world), cleans shaman's helper, ritual and eye, shaman recognizes Cabeza's power, resurrection, playing God?, merging of shamanism and christianity

   Reflection: I thought it was interesting how, towards the end of the film, there was a merging of the religions. One could see the transformation happening slowly, and it is especially apparent when Cabeza helps to clean the shaman's helper. At his weakest point, when he runs away and finds that he ran in a circle, he resorts to the fetal position: going back to stage one of being human. He has to start over, and that is when his transformation begins. He realizes that he is only in a small portion of the world, and his part of the world is somewhere else. He goes from fighting the Shaman to joining him and aiding him. “If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.” However, I wondered that since Cabeza is a Christian, once he turns Shaman, is he playing god? Or is has he become a representative of God?