Hero

Sorry about the late posting guys! Busy week this week, and I am not even sure if I can get any credit on this, but it is worth a shot!

Let me start off by saying that Hero is a beautiful film. The vibrant colors and lush scenery make this movie one of the most visually astounding I have ever seen. The colors play an important role in the film as everyone except Nameless (Jet Li) is clothed in the same color fabric. Also, the scenery takes on the hue of the particular color. While one story is full of red, possibly due to the amount of bloodshed in this tale (Snow killing Sword, the archers firing on the calligraphy school), another tale version of the tale is told where the cast is dressed in a light blue. All the while, Nameless is dressed in the same, black garb. He is the one constant in all of the stories as are his motives up until the very end of the film. The fight scenes are no less vibrant with characters performing inhuman feats of acrobatics and supernatural stunts that include flight and running on water. It is so beautifully done though, as to not look cheesy. Wire assisted fighting is a staple of the Wuxia genre of films and Hero is no different.
The tale in Hero has come under much scrutiny for being a tale about a united China. Problems with Tibet and Taiwan have criticized the film for its seemingly pro-reunification message. In the film, Emperor Qin is trying to unite China through force, a position some feel that the current Communist regime may one day undertake.
Overall, I found Hero to be a very beautiful film with a wonderful score of Chinese music behind it and an ancient tale with relevance in today's world. Although some may disagree, the unified China message in Hero seems to be innocent and not suggestive of a Communist-controlled China. Who can blame a person for wanting to see their fellow Chinese (those who retreated to Taiwan) reunited with the homeland?
-Julian

Not One Less

Director Zhang Yimou's film Not One Less was a compelling piece of cinematography that had a certain sense of realism to it, similar to The Wind Will Carry Us. The film shows the viewer the stark contrasts between the highly industrialized cities of Hong Kong and Beijing (as seen in popular media) and the mountainous, rural environments of the large majority of China's inhabitants. The film takes this one step further by depicting a poor village, which again is in stark contrast to the highly publicized growth of China's economy and urban areas. Not One Less seems to be challenging more the Westerners view of China, and tries to draw the viewer away from the idealized cities and into the more realistic villages that cover most of China.
Of course, the ideal of showing us the more realistic nature of China can apply to those who are urban-Chinese citizens or of the younger generation. Possibly, their exposure to the villages and the poverty in parts of their country are limited, similar to the situation in most Western countries, but I feel that it is more pandering to the Western audiences sensibilities (a notion that Zhang Yimou was criticized for in the critically-acclaimed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).
This message of contrasts between the urban and the rural is interwoven into a compelling narrative about one girl's persistence, and the children she substitute teaches for. Her trials and tribulations are comparable to those of a single mother, who tries to balance her own goals (like Wei's goal to earn the extra Yuan / to bring back Zhang Huike) with the realities of having to care for your dependents (the children Wei teaches / Zhang Huike). The tale of her struggles seems to fall upon universal lines and most audiences, no matter what country, could relate this message to events in their own lives.
Overall, Not One Less was a compelling tale that contained a message about the contrasts of rural and urban China. Although I would have not seen the film on my own accord, I would recommend it to others.

-Julian

Swades

The Indian film Swades is a Bollywood film that contained a beautiful story that was hampered by the melodrama and cheesy acting. Also, most of the songs felt out of place in the film and damaged what I felt could have been a great film. Not to say Swades was all bad though. The lower caste weaver-turn-farmer's heart wrenching story about how the villagers won't even buy his meager offering of crops almost brought tears to my eyes. The man who could not send his children to school, due to his family being ostracized from the village, also made me empathize with the message of the film.
Sadly though, Mohan's efforts to end the suffering by changing certain cultural notions comes of as cheesy. Removing weeds from a water pipe does not require the overly-dramatic music that was playing, nor did Mohan need to overact during certain scenes in the film. At times, subtlety would have made much more of an impact on the audience than a soliloquy. This overacting extends to Gita as well. I could not honestly think she loved Mohan with how she displayed her affection. She seemed distant from Mohan. Luckily, Kavieramma's acting was spot-on, as I really felt like she was a motherly/grand-motherly figure. Unfortunately though, her realism can not save the overall cheesy acting of Mohan and Gita.
For the most part, I am picking out small details that I felt hurt the overall message of the film. The secondary characters (the farmer and the outcast family) really brought it all together. Even the post-master who was sort of a oafish had certain qualities that made him a good character. Overall, I think Swades is a good film to introduce those to Bollywood cinema. It weaves a good tale with Bollywood song and melodrama.
-Julian

Monsoon Wedding

The 2001 award-winning movie, Monsoon Wedding, is an interesting film that blends international themes about love and how confusing it can be, with the more “Indian” themes of pre-arranged marriages and family issues. The merging of the two ideals lends the movie a certain uniqueness that makes it seem familiar, yet exotic. It was a slow-paced movie, up until the end, but it was beautifully done, with many vibrant images spread abundantly throughout the scenes. One major problem I had with the movie is that I could not sympathize with the bride or groom. Aditi (the bride) seemed to be a very shallow character and somewhat of a "whore." The groom as well seemed too accepting of his promiscuous wife. However, I did feel for the father, who had to plan the whole wedding (due to having a daughter getting married instead of a son) and his pain of his children leaving him. Also, the wedding planner who falls in love with the servant girl were both very believable and it was beautiful to see their impromptu wedding. The subplot of Ria and one of her uncles was somewhat disturbing how the other family members treated it as a "small matter." Treating child molestation as a small charge is something I cannot agree with, and I hope the director was just exaggerating the situation, and this is not a common occurence in India.

Overall, the film was very well done, but the main characters seemed to be somewhat emotionless and I could not sympathize with them. Minor characters (such as Ria, Dubey, and the father) contained more personality and emotion than the bride and groom, while other characters (the Indian returned from Australia and the girl who flirts with him) seemed to just add more sexuality to the tale, instead of really contributing to the movie. Other than the characters though, the movie was beautifully done with vibrant colors and exotic locales.

The Wind Will Carry Us

My first impressions from the film The Wind Will Carry Us, was that the film style was very raw and gritty. Instead of trying to make the film driven by plot devices or the dialogue, it proceeds at its own pace, focusing on scenery and the people more than drama or action. It is because of this style that this movie is more real than any other film we have watched. At times, I personally wished that my life was edited to get only to the interesting parts, but this is not the case.

The amount of realism lends itself to creating a surrealistic environment, mainly because it seems so different than what is normal. I will have to say though, that this movie took me a little bit out of my comfort zone, mainly because I found it to be too slow. The slower pace and focus on the metaphorical rather than the literal, lends itself to being a critical masterpiece, but not so much a popular choice among audiences. We want a film that keeps us entertain and is understandable, instead of always having to think and interpret different messages.

Just like my English professor pointed out, it is the difference between a Harry Potter and Dante's Divine Comedy. Harry Potter gives a more instantaneous satisfaction as something is happening at almost all points in the book, while the Divine Comedy is more slowly paced and focuses on visual aspects (especially when discussing Hell). Personally, I prefer the Divine Comedy, but The Wind Will Carry Us was not nearly as enjoyable in a sense as the Divine Comedy. At least Dante wrote in fantastical elements of angels, demons, and contemporary figures and keep the book interesting.

I will agree that this movie was not for me, but I can see why some would enjoy it.

-Julian

A Critical Analysis of Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell

Cyborgs: A Cybernetic Transcendence or Just a Mechanical Body?

As technology and humanity seem to grow ever closer to a singularity, one in which humans and machines can become part of one another, it is important to consider the case of the “cyborg,” an organism that is aided or controlled by electronics and machinery. The aspects of cyborgs have led some to believe that the human race will transcend not only their mortal bodies, but concepts such as gender and nationality. One of the most major proponents of this philosophy is Donna Haraway, whose Cyborg Manifesto explores the concepts of cyborgs and transcendence. To her “The cyborg…serves as a representational figure that embodies the capacity of information technologies to erase gender and racial boundaries and the structures of oppression which have historically accompanied them” (Silvio 54). Mamoru Oshii’s film adaptation of Masamune Shirow’s popular manga (the Japanese equivalent of a comic), Ghost in the Shell, tackles these issues in a more metaphorical sense, while weaving a tale of political intrigue in a not-so distant future. Some will argue that Ghost in the Shell’s main character, Major Motoko Kusanagi (“the Major”), does not transcend gender, but reaffirms it. In my analysis, I hope to tackle this issue of femininity within the film.

A naked, human-like form floats through various vats of liquids, while images of a cybernetic brain and a robotic face appear on the screen accompanied by the names of the production crew. At first, the form seems androgynous, but begins to take on the female form as the process continues. Layers of flesh and skin are piled upon the mechanical framework of this cybernetic body that happens to be that of Major Kusanagi. She awakes from this dream dressed in only a shirt and panties, and thus the movie begins, with an obviously sexualized female lead. The next scene with the Major standing on the rooftops of a building in Newport City, seems to reaffirm this as we are given gratiutious, low-angle shots of both her buttocks and breasts. Ong Sor Fern, a critic for The Straits Times, accurately describes her as “a female cyborg who looks like a cross between the pneumatically-talented Pam Anderson and the dead beauty of T2000” (Fern). Already, it seems that the Major is not transcending any kind of gender issues, but those thoughts change as the movie goes on.

Throughout the movie, the Major is placed in the position of power compared to her male counterparts. While her male partner Togusa drives an armored van, Major Kusanagi adorns herself in battle vestments and weaponry. Even Batou, the cyborg male with the body of a superhero, is relegated to a more passive position as the Major engages the suspected “Puppet Master” in brutal hand-to-hand combat. Here, the suspect is completely defenseless to the attacks of Major Kusanagi due to her invisibility. Again, the man is placed into a position of absolute weakness in the face of the Major. Although her body possess characteristics of the female sex, the Major possess strength comparable to any man. In Sharalyn Orbaugh’s words, “[Her] body perfectly incarnates the modernist idea of autonomous subjectivity; in this sense, [she] [is] coded "male," despite the strong visual dimorphism” (Orbaugh 445). With the introduction of the “Puppet Master”, this notion of a “male” in a “female” body is taken one step further.

Project 2501 or the “Puppet Master” is a being created out of pure data. As the data traversed the net, it gained sentience and adopted a personality and agenda. It had the sole desire of uniting with a partially organic humanoid in order to bear an offspring that fuses the best of both the digital and real worlds. We first see the Puppet Master when “he” (this is what one of the scientist refers to it as) inhabits an empty cyborg body and escapes the MegaTech Corporation’s factory. The body he inhabits is that of a female cyborg, but the voice it projects is that of a male’s. “The Puppet Master…can be read as a less equivocal representation of how technology can enable one to transcend the prescriptive limits of our contemporary social environment” (Silvio 59). I believe Carlos Silvio’s words somewhat undermines his arguments and the arguments of others saying that the beautiful, female-cyborg bodies reinforce gender stereotypes. Money not withstanding, my feeling is that being given the liberty to choose a body, similar to how Project 2501 chose his body, gives people that much more autonomy to embody physically how they feel mentally, or just for vanity. It is this freedom of choice that I believe helps us transcend gender.

The issue of the identity of gender, especially in the case of Project 2501 brings us to the next and probably the most metaphorical and interpretable segment of the film. First and foremost is the Major literally ripping herself apart when attempting to rip open the hatch of a large tank-like entity. It can be seen as either her own Harawayan transcendence of the limited physical form or her victimization at other hands (Bolton 735). At this point, the Major is at the mercy of fate as her limbs are completely useless, but Batou shows up at just in time to save Kusanagi from being destroyed by the juggernaut’s claws. This is one of the few points where the man is in the position of power. In this case, it is Batou coming to the rescue of the defenseless Kusanagi, a classical references to knights rescuing a helpless princess.

The metaphors do not end here though, as Kusanagi desires to “dive,” or connect, into the Puppet Master’s cybernetic brain in order to discern his origins. He has other plans though, as he instead dives into her mind and speaks directly in her thoughts, to the dismay of Batou who can not hear the ongoing discussion. Again, Kusanagi is at the mercy of the male as the Puppet Master has complete control over her mind. However, he desires to “merge” his mind with hers, in a process that would produce “a higher form of consciousness from the intermingling of human and machine intelligence” (Chute 87). In this way, they emulate humanoid reproduction with the offspring being a fusion of parts of Kusanagi and parts of the Puppet Master, similar to the passing of the male and female genes in human offspring. To further the cycle of reproduction, Kusanagi awakens from the whole ordeal in cyborg body of a young child, a body that Batou found on the Black Market. The new-Kusanagi even “wonders aloud, ‘Where does the newborn go from here?’” (Chute 87). It seems the Mamoru Oshii is propagating the gender stereotype of females as a means of production, even though Project 2501 states that he only needs a person who is partially organic and does not specify that it had to be a female. This implies that he could have merged with Batou, if he so chose too, but he has a vested interest in Major Kusanagi. It is with this information that one could challenge the notions of some who feel that the Major furthers certain female stereotypes.

Overall, Major Motoko Kusanagi and Project 2501 are diverse characters who neither truly reaffirm nor deny traditional conventions. While Project 2501 seems to be the ideal representation of an entity that has transcended gender, Major Kusanagi seems to still be attached to certain gender stereotypes and ideals. I do disagree though, with the majority of critics who seem to feel that the film furthers the archetypal “ideal” female, one who possesses a sexualized demeanor. It is because of these contradictory elements that the film allows the viewer to draw his or her own conclusions to the possible ramifications of a world containing cyborgs and the possibilities of erasing social norms through the transcendence from our mortal shell.

Works Cited

Chute, David. "The soul of the new machine: Oshii Mamoru's Ghost in the Shell." Film Comment May 1996: 84-87. ProQuest. ProQuest. Georgia Institute of Technology. 28 Feb. 2008 .

Bolton, Christopher A. "From Wooden Cyborgs to Celluloid Souls:Mechanical Bodies in Anime and Japanese Puppet Theater." positions Nov. 2002: 729-72. Academic Search Complete. EBSCOhost. Georgia Institute of Technology. 28 Feb. 2008 .

Silvio, Carl. "Refiguring the Radical Cyborg in Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell." Science Fiction Studies 26.1 (1999): 54-72. Academic Search Complete. EBSCOhost. Georgia Institute of Technology. 28 Feb. 2008 .

Orbaugh, Sharalyn. "Sex and the Single Cyborg: Japanese Popular Culture Experiments in Subjectivity." Science Fiction Studies 29.3 (2002): 436-52. Academic Search Complete. EBSCOhost. Georgia Institute of Technology. 28 Feb. 2008 .

Sor Fern, Ong. "This busty cyborg looks familiar." The Straits Times 22 Aug. 1999 [Singapore] : 13. LexisNexis Academic. LexisNexis. Georgia Institute of Technology. 28 Feb. 2008 .

The Subtlties of War in "No Man's Land"

The Bosnian War of 1993 is a war many have probably never heard of. I certainly have never heard of any American films to cover the Bosnian War, but No Man's Land does just that, but in a more subtle way. Instead of epic battles and a courageous protagonist, we are presented with 3 characters Cera, Ciki (Bosnian Muslims) and Nino (Bosnian Serb) who end up stuck in a trench between their two warring sides. These characters are flawed in their own right, and none of them are really the protagonist or antagonist; they are just two different sides of the war.
The director, Danis Tanovic, presents a story based around the humanity of these characters and their interactions with the press and the United Nations force. Scenes in the trench usually involve a changing of power (who wields the gun) which may metaphorically represent the changing of power in the actual war itself (Serbs gain the upperhand, then the Muslims, etc). Really, the only sympathizable character is Cera who was placed on top of a mine by Nino and his former comrade, who was killed by Ciki. As he lays upon the mine, we ponder his fate as Sergeant Marchand of the UNPROFOR arrives at the trench in order to help.
At this point, the movie begins to focus more on Marchand and the general ineptness of the UN. Even the ranking officials refuse to do anything, and it is through Marchand's own act of defiance that Cera, Ciki, and Nino receive any help whatsoever. He is the only other character who seems to show any humanity, as even the reporter Jane Livingstone seems only interested in the story of the soldiers instead of actually helping them. All of these events lead up to the resolution of the tale, and what a powerful one it was.
It seems that Nino, Ciki, and Cera may be saved as media pressure forces the UNPROFOR to come to the aid of the three. Things turn bleak when the German Mine Expert states that he cannot defuse the mine underneath Cera. Following this, Ciki kills Nino in an act of revenge for an earlier incident, and one of the young UNPROFOR guards guns down Ciki. To save face, the UNPROFOR evacuates out a "fake" Cera in order to fool the media into believing they actually rescued him. The movie ends with Cera lying desolate in the trench, his death inevitable.
-Julian