Death of a Cowboy

After an extended stay in McCabe's whorehouse, a cowboy is ready to return to his cattle, but first wants to buy a pair of socks. The cowboy, not much of a shot, is accosted by a ruthless gunman at the bridge and shot dead as he reaches for his gun (so the gunman can "fix" it). Many of us in the audience gasped or shook our heads at this scene. What purpose, if any, is there to this scene? Or is it's lack of meaning itself meaningful? Is it an effective scene? What does it convey, if anything?

How the West Looked and Sounded

Robert Altman utilized disntinctive techniques of cinematography and sound in McCabe & Mrs. Miller. He used natural light during the day and subdued lighting to capture the look of gaslight during the night. He used sound that often captured all the noise in the room without differentiated individual voices. Thus much of the film looks dark and dingy and sounds noisy and unfocused. Does the lighting and sound add to the experience of watching the film -- or does it detract? Does it provide a sense of life in the West at the turn of the twentieth century? Or does it distract from the story?

Please Do Eat the Daisies

The two main characters in Daisies are constantly eating or at least playing with food. They have lavish dinners at restaurants, bathe in milk and playfully slice bananas and sausage. This trend culminates in the scene in which they sneak into a feast, indulge their palattes, and engage in a food fight. What is the point of all this food, glorious food? Can you make sense of the use of food in at least some of these scenes?

A Feminist Farce?

Daisies is the first film we have screened by a female director that focuses on women protagonists. Yet this film is far from an easy film to interpret. Do you see a feminist "message" in the film? Or is this film lampooning such a message? Is this film highlighting and ridiculing sexist views of women? What about the fact that the women protagonists are hardly the paragons of virtue? Please enlighten us.

The Music Inside My Head

Toward the end of Pierrot le Fou, Ferdinand encounters a man on a dock who hears a song that Fredinand cannot hear (and we the audience can hear it initially and then we cannot). The man then relates a story of love (and love gone awry) associated with the song. After the story, Ferdinand jumps on a boat and the man is never seen again. What is the purpose of the song and the story? Is it just another odd appendange, an experimental flourish? Or does it highlight an important theme or symbol of the movie?

Postmodern Cinema (and Television)

We discussed postmodernism in class: the idea that film, literature or art does not have any transcendental meaning but merely rehashes the same ol', same ol' again and again. Some symptoms of this idea are calling attention to the artificiality or fiction of art, abundant allusions, and the disintegration of the distinction between high and low art. Where do you see examples of postmodern in Pierrot le Fou? In Daisies? Do you see these features in other films -- or even television shows? Please make your examples as detailed as you can.

What's New About the New Wave?

French New wave auteurs like Godard envisioned their films as a radical re-visoning of the static filmmaking of the French studio system. What experimental ideas or techniques did you notice in Pierrot le Fou (could you explain in some detail)? How do these experiments change the way we enjoy a film? Are they engaged or annoying? Do they bring meaning to the film? Do they make fun of the whole idea of bringing meaning to film?

LIFE: Discovery Channel's New Show

Life is the new and improved version of Planet Earth. I was amazed when I first saw the show. The use of camera techniques makes nature seem even more interesting than it already is. It is by far the best educational show I have ever seen.

Mono No Aware

Mono no aware is the Japanese idea of the awareness of the transience of beauty and the ultimate sadness of life. After watching Tokyo Story can you better understand this concept? What were your emotional feelings at the end of the film? What were you thinking when you saw the final image: the old man alone in the house fanning himself?

The Japanese Aesthetic

For many moviegoers, the films of Ozu are typically Japanese, drawing on a history of theater, printmaking, and Zen rituals that are very different from the West. Do you find an aesthetic or "feel" to Tokyo Story that is different from American or even European films? If you know anything about Japanese culture, do you see parallels between this film and other Japanese art or rituals? Do you gain a sense of mono no aware, the appreciation of the inherent sadness of life due to the transcience of beauty?

The Post-War World

Two films we have screened, Bicycle Thieves and Tokyo Story, are set in the years immediately after World War II, in countries defeated by the United States and its allies. What can we learn about the nature of the war from its aftermath? What do these films tell us about the costs of the war? Do we have any clues about the ascent of America and its culture in the post-war world?

Individual Episodes or A Continous Storyline?

What type of television series do you prefer, one that has individual episodes where the viewer doesn't need see the previous episode in order to follow along or a series that adheres to a storyline?