Use two films studied on the module to discuss how elements of gameplay are used to convey a sense of historical trauma. Pans Labyrinth, Silent Hill

 Use two films studied on the module to discuss how elements of gameplay are used to convey a sense of historical trauma. Pans Labyrinth, Silent Hill

Video games are no longer a new media phenomenon, but they are one of the youngest mediums. The definition of remediation outlined by J. David Bolter and Richard A. Grusin in their book ‘Remediation: Understanding New Media’ is the act of new digital media remediating its predecessors such as television, radio and print journalism. Video games such as Max Payne use slow motion or ‘bullet time’ effects that directly remediate the cinematic effects within ‘The Matrix’. ‘The Matrix’ remediated this from cyber punk anime such as ‘Ghost in the Shell’. Video games such as ‘Gears of War 3’ remediate films in their use of cinematic cut-scenes. In ‘GOW 3’ ‘there is 90 minutes of cut-scenes (Dee Majek. 2015. P.3).

‘Silent Hill’ is a perfect example of a franchise that reverses the regular pattern of film refranchised as games. ‘Silent Hill’ actually migrates the use of cut scenes from its videogame counterpart into its film. Nods to the videogame are numerous and what this allows for is a far greater inter-textually between the ludic structure of the narrative and the film.

In Pan’s Labyrinth the choice given to Ofelia in the gameplay element mirrors the way the viewer has to choose between what is real and what is fantasy. Guillermo intertwines the narrative with the logic of a little girls fairy-tale ‘imposing its own laws of versilitude’ (Fernandez. 2013. P.212). One way of viewing the story is to see the labyrinth world as a product of Ofelia’s imagination. However Guillermo complicates this reading at the end of the film. When Vidal finds Ofelia talking to the magical faun the camera switches to his viewpoint and the faun is not there. Initially this would give the viewer the construct that the fantasy world is purely a fabricated reality used by Ofelia to deal with her trauma. However, previous to this encounter Vidal drinks a heavy sleeping medication which destabilizes our trust in Vidal’s view giving us the realisation that perhaps the faun is real.

This puts the viewer in the position of a gamer, the goal is to work out the puzzle, what is real and what is fantasy? We are the algorithm constructing our own version events through the database of hyperealities.

(Pan’s Labyrinth. 2006)


Guillermo defies the patriarchal and conservative value systems that were engrained by Disney. Disney films were keen to authentically copy fairy-tales but in doing so they inherited their old fashioned ideologies. Guillermo goes against this by re-contextualising fairy-tales. Drawing from a range of contexts, whilst not giving them precedence over each other. References include nods to child eating monsters such as Cronos the Greek god. Cronos devoured his god children and in a similar way Vidal kills Ofelia to prevent the young from flourishing. Ofelia’s red shoes link with the ‘Wizard of Oz’ and the 1948 film by Powell and Pressburger. Piles of shoes reference the piles of clothes in Nazi concentration camps. This results in a competing interplay between copies of copies to create meaning. This plethora of sources in conjunction with a heavily remediated structure points to the idea of the hypereality.

Storytelling has featured ludic structure throughout history. The Greeks were in favour of a level-like approach to their stories. Homer’s the ‘Iliad’ is full of stages and levels which the hero ‘Achilles’ has to make his way through, to be victorious. There are also certain monsters and people that he has to defeat on his quest, such as Hector, much like in videogames where there are bosses who you have to defeat to complete the level. There are certain artefacts that Achilles has to retrieve such as the golden bough which is the key to the underworld. Other characters only let him go forward if he is able to complete their riddles.

Lord of the Rings offers similar ludic narratives with the inclusion of Gollum’s riddles. Both of these texts deal with the issue of historical trauma and perhaps the sheer volume of ludic narratives provides evidence that they are the best format of exploring the subject. Arguably ‘Lord of The Rings’ is an analogous epic about World War One and many say that the writer J.R.R Tolkien wrote it as a way of dealing with the traumatic events that he experienced during the war. The Iliad consciously goes about documenting the violent history of ancient Greece in a highly glorified and fantasized way, perhaps as a way to subvert the depressive nature of a time consisting mainly of war and hate. Guillermo Del Toro hints at both of these approaches to dealing with historical trauma in his film ‘Pans Labyrinth’.

Both ‘Lord of The Rings’ and ‘Pans Labyrinth’ have the same fairy-tale quality. However in ‘Pans Labyrinth’ the fairy-tale nature is different because it is both contained within a strand of the story and at the same time encapsulates the story completely. The fairy-tale element of the labyrinth that Ofelia descends into is shown to be her creation, despite a few ambiguous plot points that would suggest otherwise. This is perhaps represented most potently at the start of the film as it begins with the camera going into Ofelia’s. This gives the sense that the viewer is about to see the story from a childish fairy-tale perspective. This is a ludic device putting the viewer into a first person perspective like in a first person shooter.

Much like how J.R.R Tolkien wrote ‘Lord of The Rings’ arguably as a way of coping with his Post-Traumatic Stress. In ‘Pans Labyrinth’ we are presented with the idea that this fantasy world created by Ofelia is a way of both escaping but also ultimately dealing the violent political turmoil that is present in her reality.

The topic of ‘Pan’s labyrinth’ is 1944 post civil war Spain in which Vidal a brutal fascist leader has come to power and is hunting down the Spanish rebels. This is a topic of Spain’s history that is seldom addressed due to its horrible nature. Spain, and other once Fascist countries such as Germany are understandably trying to forget their turbulent past.

The non-prejudiced people of Nazi Germany at the time of WW2 would have been aware of the genocide that their leaders were responsible for. However they would be conditioned to look away and focus of their own economic benefits and improvements to lifestyle that came with Hitler’s rule. This theme of looking away is prevalent in both ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ and ‘Silent Hill’, the theme of choice to see or forget the harsh truth.

‘Pans Labyrinth’ captures the antagonist Vidal’s mentality of glorifying his rule and forgetting the evil sentiment of fascist Spain. This mirrors the way that the ‘Iliad’ subverts its story’s painful nature into a celebratory piece and the way that the Puritans in ‘Silent Hill’ subvert sin onto innocent people who they label witches. One way of dealing with sin is by repressing it and blaming it on someone else. However buried sin always rears its gruesome head which often effects the innocents. The innocent children in both films are the ones that are sacrificed for others sins.

One of the reasons that Spain has not addressed this topic is because of the man and the regime that the film is all about. This is like how America’s history books were rewritten to cover over their horrible treatment of Native Americans. ‘As one of the spoils of victory, Franco the leader of the fascist Spanish regime was able to control and manipulate representations of the past to create a paradigm of National Catholic Spanish history that would be taught in schools and universities’ (Fernandez. 2013. P.212)

In ‘Pans Labyrinth’ Ofelia’s completion of the levels within her magical world is seen as a way to deal with her trauma as well as Spanish national trauma. The release of her brother into the world alongside the death of their mother symbolises the turning over of a new leaf. This mirrors how in ‘Silent Hill’ Alessa uses her child Sharon ‘the good part of Alessa’ as a clean slate. In ‘Pans Labyrinth’ Ofelia is an analogy for Guillermo Del Toro. Where she is trying to deal with her emotional trauma, Guillermo Del Toro is trying to deal with his country’s national trauma. In a twisted way Ofelia is also an analogy for Franco as he goes on to manipulate the past into a fake fantasy version with the illusion of it being real. Again this manufacture of an unauthentic past is prevalent in the untruthful ramblings of the head puritan in ‘Silent Hill’.

‘Silent Hill’ practices the same subject of confronting our fears, emotions and most importantly trauma. The main theme running through ‘Silent Hill’ are people’s sins and traumas and how characters deal with it. The town of Silent Hill is an alternate reality nightmare dimension that is an area of dark energy created from one traumatic event. Everyone that lives in Silent Hill is subject to punishment from this dark energy that pulsates in and out like a tide. It brings with it devilish monsters and that are only unable to encompass one area: the church.

(Silent Hill. 2006)

The event that brings about this dark presence is the burning of a child named Allessa by a cult of puritan Christians who believes that she is a witch. This is because she has been made impure by the molestations of a janitor. During the witch burning ceremony the device of her torture breaks allowing her to survive, albeit severely burnt. In hospital Allessa is visited by the devil in the body of a dark doppelganger of herself. The devil offers Allessa the opportunity to reap revenge by giving her dark powers over the town and gifting her with a child. I believe that the devil enables Allessa to transform the town of Silent Hill into a game in which the people who tortured her are trapped and exposed to her revenge.

The town is an embodiment of Alessa’s mind, at times it’s a metaphor for other character’s mental anguish such as in the case of Rose. In the original video game this is made clearer by the ‘malevolent power native to Silent Hill, which materializes human thoughts’ (Wiki. 2015) into monsters and scenery. Visual motifs are included denoting the national trauma of America and Japan. The viewers of the film and players of the game are made to deal with the fallout of the trauma from horrible events such as Hiroshima and the holocaust. The fog world has a very post- apocalyptic feel to it.

(Silent Hill. 2006)

A child born of the devil and the hate filled Alessa is adopted from an orphanage outside of Silent Hill by the main character Rose. The viewer follows Rose as she tries to track her lost child down after she disappears. After learning that her child, Sharon is in Silent Hill she must descend into its hellish layers of nightmarish levels. The film certainly does borrow a level-like design from its video-game counterpart. Survival is the goal in all these levels, the main goal of any traumatised mind is to escape the trauma so the survival gameplay is heavily emblematic.

The contest is a form of human experience that we are shown from an early age even with the contest to leave the womb alive: ‘from parenting to courtship to war, and as a cognitive structure it may have evolved as a survival mechanism in the original struggle of predator and prey in the primeval world.’ (Janet Murray, 2004). In Silent Hill the gameplay element of flight or fight is in favour of fight because humans often tackle trauma head on. However some trauma is too intense to combat so we must flee. If you are to make the wrong choice between the two in the game and in life then this can be fatal.

As I mentioned before the main theme to ‘Pans Labyrinth’ is choice and this is strengthened by the game-like nature of Ofelia’s fantasy world. The labyrinth that Ofelia descends into is full of puzzles and levels that she has to complete through making choices. The Faun presents Ofelia with a magic book with three tasks that she must complete before the next full moon. She must retrieve a key from the stomach of a giant toad that lives in a rot infested womb-shaped tree by feeding it three magic stones. This scene symbolises her brother killing her mother in child birth and Ofelia’s task entails killing the toad which would save the tree. In the game-like world the motives that characters cannot act out in reality become realised. Later she is told by the faun that her second task is to retrieve a dagger before the last grain of sand falls.

(Pan’s Labyrinth. 2006)

Both ‘Silent Hill’ and ‘Pans Labyrinth’ copies the level-like formula from its video-game counterpart alongside its narrative structure. In ‘Silent Hill’ the level-like sections are even joined by a black screen at the end of one and the beginning of another. There are also cut-scenes between the action with different filters on the screen: ‘whenever cut-scenes feature, atmospheric ambiguity, narrative complexity, and personal relationships are foregrounded’. (Kirkland. 201. P.320) There will be an action scene followed by a scene where the story is explained often by a character or a cut scene. In ludic structures there will often be some kind of narrator that will guide the player through the levels adding explanations to the action. In ‘Silent Hill’ this narrator is Cybil, in ‘Pans Labyrinth’ it is the faun and the fairies.

Often without these narrators players are left just fighting enemies for no reason. This kind of interplay between action and dialogue alongside the type of guide-like behaviour from some of the characters reinforces the isolated goal structure of the survival missions. You must just stay alive, nothing else. If we view each level as an ordeal with trauma then only before or after the action do we fully have time to reflect and understand it. Cybil makes Rose understand her daughter’s trauma because Cybil is un-burdened by the panic and confusion that Rose is in. This is the same feeling that the player has in the case of survival games.

Rose’s development within the fantasy world of Silent Hill mirrors her daughters development. This is evident in the first scene where she is dressed in infantile attire and holding a stuffed toy. There is also a plethora of sexual imagery often in the form of doors that Rose must go through to get to the next stage. This action of leaving a door is a metaphor for leaving the womb and reaching the next stage of development. These motifs are prevalent in the video game ‘Dark Souls’ that symbolically documents the player’s journey from escaping the womb to contesting with monsters with far bigger swords than them. Pyramid Head is a boss monster in Silent Hill with a big sword whose murder of people is a metaphor for sex or rape. Rose and Sharon are vulnerable to him as they have yet to reach the next pycho-sexual stage. Just like how in a video-games the aim is to reach the next level, in ‘Silent Hill’ the next level is the next stage of development.

(Silent Hill. 2006)

Silent Hill features an ever-changing ludic environment that creates new zones that Rose must navigate through. The map that Rose sees on the road symbolises this database of Alessa’s traumatised mind. The map is reminiscent of the ones used in video games, particularly ‘Silent Hills’ video-game counterpart. This ludic library of zones must be navigated through by the algorithm. The structure of a database and an algorithm that navigates its way through the stages contradicts the standard narrative of a guided path. It enacts the way that we often visit our own trauma: with no pattern or logic. The monsters that the characters have to defeat are presented much like targets or chess pieces, not characters that a non-ludic narrative would have.

(Silent Hill. 2006)

If we look at the database of ‘Silent Hill’ as the mind of Alessa the visual motifs fit her trauma. Silent Hill is burnt to a crisp like Alessa herself. She faced molestation by the Janitor symbolised by the sexually charged Pyramid Head. Alessa is both the child and an analogy of Sharon. Her needing to confront these demons is Alessa needing to confront her trauma.

Sharon trying to escape Pyramid Head is Alessa’s psyche playing out the scenario of actually escaping the molestations of the Janitor. The Janitor has stunted Alessa’s sexual development because she hadn’t reached the next stage yet. Sharon and Rose’s trip through ‘Silent Hill’ is a metaphor for Alessa repeated attempts to reach the next stage. ‘Replay is an aspect of gaming, one of the most pleasurable and characteristic structures of computer-based gaming in particular, which is usually accomplished by saving the game state at regular intervals’. (Murray. 2004) This is another ludic feature, the replay of stages to try and complete them. In a sense ‘Silent Hill’ is analogous of itself because it is a town that has been made a game for Alessa’s mind to work at and a videogame for us to play. If we recognise visual motifs that symbolise nuclear wastelands such as the very Chernobyl-like abandoned playgrounds and ash then we are playing through the trauma that nuclear fallout left.

Ultimately Alessa’s repeated catharsis of her own trauma is symbolised by the ludic pattern. A never-ending stream of monsters comes out to kill the cult, then they go back to the darkness and the act is repeated. There are parallels between Alessa’s creation of a game world and the Japanese man Keiichirō Toyama creating the video-game. Has Keiichirō Toyama manufactured a gamelike world for a catharsis of his national trauma?

In ‘Pans Labyrinth’ there is no mistaking the similarities between tasks such as escaping increasingly sand filled rooms and the tasks in games such as ‘Tomb Raider’. Ofelia has to make certain choices with the tasks such as should she eat from the table of the pale man? This mirrors the way that other characters have to choose between seeing the evil of the regime or not and following its laws or acting against them. Ultimately the film is about obedience or disobedience. The pale mans table is an almost direct copy of the table that Vidal dines at with his friends earlier on. When Ofelia eats from the table she is breaking the rules and this symbolises the contradiction of Vidal’s orders. The choices that Ofelia needs to make are paralleled with the viewer’s choice to decide what is real and what is fantasy.

I will end this essay with the idea that ‘Silent Hill’ and ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ is about hyperealities. Hyperealities are virtual worlds that the occupant is unable to distinguish from reality: ‘the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal’ (Baudrillard. 1981) Baudrillard presented the idea that with the existence of a mass of references and symbols we are creating so many copies of copies that we cannot distinguish which one is the original. Just like the idea of Hyperealites the characters in ‘Silent Hill’ and ‘Pans Labyrinth’ start to fixate on their traumas. They see these worlds not as copies, but as reality: Vidal’s blind glorification of his regime, the Puritans glorification of their order and Ofelia’s aspiration to live in her fantasy world forever.


Bibligraphy

 Dee, Majek. "The Cinematisation Of Computer And Console Games Aesthetic And Commercial Convergence In The Film And Game Industries". 2015: n. pag. Print.

 Fernandez, Alvarez. 2013. ‘Spanish History in the Fairy Country: Dealing with Social, Trauma in Pan’s Labyrinth’ (Online) accessed 10th January) (https://ojs.uv.es/index.php/kamchatka/article/viewFile/3154/2881)

 Grusin, Richard. ‘Remediation: Understanding New Media’ (Online) (accessed 10th january)(https://monoskop.org/images/a/ae/Bolter_Jay_David_Grusin_ Richard_Remediation_Understanding_New_Media_low_quality.pdf)

 Janet, Murray. 2004. From Game-Story to Cyberdrama. (Online) (accessed 10th January) (http://www.electronicbookreview.com/thread/firstperson/autodramati c)

 Kirkland, Ewan. 2010. Discursively Constructing the Art of Silent Hill. (Online) (accessed 9th January) (https://vlebb.leeds.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/pid-4602818-dt-content-rid- 7208743_2/courses/201617_25846_MODL3230/Games%20and%20Cult ure-2010-Kirkland-314-28.pdf)

 Baudrillard, Jean. 1994. Simulacra and Simulation (The Body in Theory: Histories of Cultural Materialism). 1St Edition edition (31 Dec. 1994) University of Michigan Press;

 Tolkien, John. 1954. Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of The Ring. 1st edition. George Aleen and Unwin

 Home. 1194-1184 BC. The Illiad. Penguin clothbound classics (2014). Penguin

 Wikipedia 2015. Silent Hill. (Online) (accessed 9th January) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Hill) Films

 The Matrix. 1999. Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski. America. Village Roadshow Pictures. Groucho II Film Partnership. Silver Pictures

 Pans Labyrinth. 2006. Guillermo Del Toro. Spain. Telecinco Cinema. Estudios Picasso. Tequila Gang

 Silent Hill. 2006. Christophe Gans. Cananda. Davis Films. The Wizard of Oz. 1939. Victor Fleming. America. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Games

 Gears of War 3. (standard edition). 2011. Xbox 360. Epic Games: Cary, North Carololina.

 Tomb Raider. (standard edition). 2006. Xbox. Crystal Dynamics: Redwood City, California.

 Dark Souls. (standard edition). 2011. Xbox 360. Namco Bandai Games: Tokyo

 Silent Hill. (standard edition). 1999. Playstation. Konami. Tokyo

What is a Cult Movie?

“The various elements that feed into Mathijs & Mendik’s (2008) ‘definition of cult film’ can be usefully employed to determine whether a film is a cult movie.” Discuss this observation making detailed reference to a film viewed on this module.

In this essay I will be talking about Mathijs and Mendiks criteria for cult films from its anatomy to its political economy to its cultural status. I will be also describing how the film ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ (1975) fulfils every single one their criteria in some way and exemplifies what it means to be a cult film. I shall also discuss how another film ‘Eraserhead’ (1977) that is considered cult doesn’t fit all of their criteria.

One section of Mathijs and Mendik’s definition of cult film is its anatomy, this being its ‘style, format and generic modes’. They split anatomy into eight key elements, the first element is innovation. RHS was innovative and perhaps revolutionary in the way two of its lead characters engage in homosexual activities on camera, this was previously only hinted at in films. (Teenage fanatics. 2014)

The next part of cult films analogy highlighted by Mathijs and Mendik is its badness; films that are ‘valued for their ‘ineptness’ or poor cinematic achievement’ (Mathijs and Mendik. 2008. P.2). The aesthetic badness of RHS is found in its cliché set designs and plastic props. However how much we can attribute to parody and how much is genuine badness could be debated. Fourteen minutes into the film when Brad and Janet are entering the gates of Frankenfurter’s castle there is a ‘‘enter at your own risk’ notice repeatedly illuminated by lightning bolts and tacked by a ridiculously high iron fence’ (Weinstock. 2008. P.25). However the writers Sharman and Richard O’brien were keen to parody and tribute horror B movies of the 30’s such as Frankenstein and King Kong through to the 70’s so it is evident that this sign is a nod to these films (Smith. 2010. P.15). The camera work a minute after this as the camera zooms in and out of the tower is very bad; a most probably unintentional parody of the crash zooms in slasher flicks and Sci-fi films.

RHS transgresses the boundaries of good and bad by making light of its badness in the context of a parody. Mathijs and Mendiks say that by the ‘challenging of one or more ‘conventions’ of filmmaking’ (Mathijs and Mendik. 2008. P.2) transgression can be achieved. Both RHS and Eraserhead challenges stylistic, moral and political conventions. Most prominently RHS challenges the style conventions in its fashion. The costume designer Sue Blane did no research into classic horror film her style was informed by subcultures such as the hells angels. The result is a strange myriad of ripped fish-net tights and red hair that has impacted the development of punk music fashion trends. Politically the film is very charged with homosexual, bisexual and transvestite imagery and connotations that challenged the homophobic Americans this was also championed by artist such as David Bowies Ziggy Stardust.

Mathijs and Mendik state that cult films challenge the generic conventions whilst also adhering to ‘generic regimes of production’ by ‘mixing genres (Alien,1979), exposing and/or mocking a genre’s unwritten rules satirically (Blazing Saddles,1974) or hyperbolically exaggerating those rules’ (Mathijs and Mendik. 2008. P.2). RHS does all of these it is a clash between the genres of Sci-fi, horror, comedy and musical. It mocks the horror and Sci-fi genres unwritten rules in the form of exaggerated zoom shots that go into spires with equally exaggerated lightning bolts and it also features stylistic parodies of horror and Sci-fi B movies in its inclusion of over the top warning signs, space-outfits and gore. Eraserhead features no parody and no mixing of genres yet does challenge generic conventions in its style.

The references to the pop musical and film culture are found almost instantaneously within the opening number ‘science fiction double feature’, in this Frank says that he wants to be dressed like Fay Wray, the heroine of King Kong. RHS takes imagery from a plethora of pop iconography in film:

‘Characters act in the emotional register of figures in rock ‘n’ roll mythology’ (Smith. 2010. P.15)

RHS is full of intertextuality with old classic Horror and Sci-fi as well as its references to well-known cultural myths and archetypes. Riff Raff is the archetypal horror film doorman with his ‘Igor-like hump that mysteriously shifts about on Riff Raffs’s back’ (Weinstock. 2008. P.25) creepy voice and 1921 ‘Nosferatu’s’ Count Orlek-like features. The historical background that Rocky Horror encompasses is a chain of gothic literature such as Sheridan Le Fanu’s, 1871 ‘Carmilla’ a story about a lesbian vampire, Bram Stokers ‘Dracula’ and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelle ‘Frankenstein’; the latter is what RHS is adapted from. Eraserhead doesn’t contain a lot of intertextuality with myths or other films.

Loose ends is an element of cult films that Mathijs and Mendik propose leaves the viewer puzzling over its ending and meaning (Mathijs and Mendik. 2008. P.3). RHS ends with Riff Raff and Magenta revealing that they are aliens before they fly off to the planet Transsexual. The humans are left in a thick dust crawling in the dirt. The criminologist narrates over the top in time with the tune:

‘And crawling on the planet's face

Some insects called the human race

Lost in time, and lost in space

And meaning’

(The Rocky Horror Picture Show’. 1975)

This beautifully sums up the condition of our existence but the viewer is left puzzled at the pure zaniness and incomprehensible element of the plot. We are left wondering what will happen to Brad, Janet and Dr Scott, they are alive but what of their self, sexuality and relationship with each other have they been left with. This ending allows the viewer to speculate and fan theories to arise. The loose ending also allowed the sequal ‘Shock Treatment’ (1981) to be made.

Nostalgia is Mathijs and Mendiks idea of ‘a yearning for an idealized past’ (Mathijs and Mendik. 2008. P.3) and the last element in the analogy is Gore; this being ‘uncomfortable material – violence, decay, mutilation or cannibalism’ (Mathijs and Mendik. 2008. P.3). In RHS as with many cult films the nostalgia comes from remembering the time when they first sang along to it as well as remembering the times that the film represents.

The only real gore of the film is in the scene where Eddie an ex-delivery driver is murdered by Frank with an ice axe. In Eraserhead a different type of gore is explored verging more on elements of mutilation with the deformed baby.

Another section of Mathijs and Mendik’s definition of cult film is its consumption (Mathijs and Mendik. 2008. P.4). Justin Smith writes ‘certainly any thoroughgoing account of the cult film cannot ignore the cult that has grown up around the film itself’ (Smith. 2010. P.13). This is where Eraserhead fall short to RHS in terms of cult film definition because it has a far smaller cult following a far fewer rituals, live viewings and sense of community.

The first part of Mathijs and Mendiks section on consumption is its active celebration; this is the films celebration that is ‘close to the organized forms of religious or spiritual worship’ (Mathijs and Mendik. 2008. P.4). The active celebration of RHS is the ritualized celebration that it is so famous for, by the end of 1979 there were two showings a week at over 230 cinema’s. This lead to a form of cult following where the fandom adapted its own rituals such as dressing the part of Eddy, shouting responses to characters and throwing toast, water, toilet paper, hot dogs and rice at points throughout the film (Rocky Horror fan site. 2008). When telling my father that I was watching RHS he replied with a phrase that was obviously a running joke amongst Rocky fans ‘when watching RHS make sure you don’t ladder your tights’; this was disturbing to hear him say yet exemplifies active celebration nonetheless.

Another part of consumption is the films communion and community (Mathijs and Mendik. 2008. P.4). RHS’s late night viewings led diehard fans forming a sense of community that would meet up with a sense of belonging, camaraderie and fellowship before, during and after a screening:

‘Many of the film’s showings are prefaced by preshows involving the initiation of ‘’virigins’’, costume competitions, trivia bowls, parodies of beauty contests, or skits incorporating material from other movie cults.’ (Weinstock. 2008. P.142).

What Methijs and Mendik mean by the ‘liveness’ of a performance is its ability to give the viewer a sense of being there, or being part of it (Mathijs and Mendik. 2008. P.4). This is amplified by certain events such as festivals and sleepovers.

The forth part of consumption that RHS fulfils is commitment (Mathijs and Mendik. 2008. P.4). Die hard RHS fans possess an intense cinephilia with the trivia, commitment and rituals of the film. The rebellious quality of RHS ties in to its homo-eroticism. Any film with a wealth of overtly sexual homo-erotic scenes will likely herd an audience of rebellious people of alternative sexual groups to fight against the right wing system or whoever disagrees with the material in the film. Cinephilia is a rebellious attitude that is self-righteous and potentially pretentious condemning mainstream cinema.

Mathijs and Mendiks idea of an alternative canonization is the way that cult films are ‘pitched against ‘official’ canon’ (Mathijs and Mendik. 2008. P.4). Cult films are championed by their fandom and it often materialises in the films making their way to ‘top-100’s’, ‘best ever’ lists. These lists are often not even official but from amateur blogs and discussion groups.

Now I will discuss how Rocky Horror fulfils all of the criteria of Mathijs and Mendiks section on ‘the political economy of cult film’ (Mathijs and Mendik. 2008. P.5). Production is a part of the political economy of cult film that refers to incidents and myths that happened during the films production. Rocky Horror has a number of production legends and trivia, there is a myth of a serious motorbike accident with Meatloaf’s stunt double in the scene where he is being chased by Frank around the lab and another that the skeleton that comes out of the coffin is actually real. (The FW. 2010)

Promotion is the second part to the political economy of film (Mathijs and Mendik. 2008. P.6). After RHS initial flop as an unsuccessful hit it became popular at some late night viewings and advertisers started realising that they could ride this niche of cinema by marketing it as a cult film. Finally there is the films reception, this is the gravitas that it picks up in the ‘long period of public presence’. Testament to RHS popularity is the way that it has stayed in our collective conscious since its release and is still played at cinema’s around the world. Eraserhead was not marketed as cult film because its market was to fans of art films and their way of consumption is perhaps more restrained to meet ups between friends as supposed to seedy late night cinema viewings.

The cultural status of the film is split into the three sections of strangeness, allegory and cultural sensitivities (Mathijs and Mendik. 2008. P.7). RHS strangeness is evident when it is viewed and is seen by many as an allegory. RHS is a metaphor for the turning of culture from the hippie counterculture of free love to the culture of sexual cynicisms that we live in currently. (Transparency Now. No date) In Frank we find the perfect symbol of this new ideology; he draws from the archetypes of Hollywood this being the various characters in his castle and brings about his fantasies. Through watching Rocky Horror in a theatre we are ironically living in Frank’s castle; a society that turns ‘sex, violence and forbidden fantasies into theatrical spectacles’. (Transparency Now. No date). The concluding idea behind Rocky Horror is that the two Freudian drives of sex and aggression have been let free into popular culture however with this comes a dismantling of self that ends like the film does with us humans crawling in the mud. Eraserhead as with many David Lynch films contains a huge amount of allegorical material.

At the time the culture was sensitive about certain aspects of sex, and especially homosexuality. Until RHS it was only really hinted at. Rocky Horror is ‘described by director and screenwriter Todd Haynes as ‘nothing short of a Camp attack on rock and roll’, glam represented a ‘‘querring’’ of the masculine hegemony of popular music’ (Weinstock. 2008. P.35). This is exemplified by Frank the glam rock queen murdering Eddie who represents the old rock.

In conclusion RHS hits every single criteria of Mathijs and Mendik’s definition of cult film from its anatomy all the way through to its consumption, political economy and cultural status. Eraserhead on the other hand is still considered a cult film yet falls short of meeting all of Mathijs and Mendik’s points. I would disagree with a statement that says that if a film doesn’t meet all of Mathijs and Mendiks points then it is not a cult film because ultimately cult films are defined by their cult not their analysers hence why they are called cult films.

Bibliography

Eraserhead. United States: David Lynch, 1977. DVD.

Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan and Kathleen Costello-Sullivan. Carmilla. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2013. Print.

Mathijs, Ernest and Xavier Mendik. The Cult Film Reader. Maidenhead, Berkshire, England: Open University Press/McGraw-Hill Education, 2008. Print.

Nosferatu. Weimer republic: F.W, Murnau, 1921. DVD.

Rocky Horror fan site. 2008. participation. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.rockyhorror.com/participation/virgins.php. [Accessed 13 May 2016].

Smith, Justin. Withnail And Us: Cult Films And Film Cults In British Cinema (Cinema And Society Series). I. B. Tauris & Company, Limited, 2010. Print.

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Library, 1996. Print.

Shock Treatment. United States: Jim Sharman, 1981. DVD.

Teenage Fanatic. 2014. 5 Similarities between The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Shakespeare. [ONLINE] Available at: http://teenagefanatic.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/5-similarities-between-rocky-horror.html. [Accessed 13 May 2016].

The FW. 2010. 10 things you didn't know about Rocky Horror Picture Show. [ONLINE] Available at: http://thefw.com/things-you-didnt-know-about-the-rocky-horror-picture-show/. [Accessed 13 May 2016].

The Rocky Horror Picture Show. United Kindgdom: Jim Sharman, 1975. DVD.

Transparency . no date. The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Emergence of Recreational Evil. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.transparencynow.com/evil.htm. [Accessed 13 May 2016].

Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew. Reading Rocky Horror. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print.

Django analysis

Write a detailed 2000 word analysis of one clip or scene (10-15 minutes in length) from one of the films shown during the course.

Quentin Tarantino is a post-modernist filmmaker who is renowned in his presentation and at times glorification of violence. His interpretation of history is manipulated and at times unrealistic but he deploys a suspension of disbelief that overrides the implausibility of the narrative. His hallmark is his vast wealth of homages he makes to films that inspired him by remixing and referencing old genres and iconic films with a detail and creativity. Tarantino has made nine films so far which more or less cover different genres of historically popular areas of filmmaking.

Tarantino released ‘Django Unchained’ (2012) in 2012 with the aim of creating a Spaghetti Western film that portrays ‘everything that America has never dealt with because it's ashamed of it’(Hiscox. 2007). ‘Django Unchained’ (2012) has gained cult status from its topic and aesthetics.

Mathijs and Mendik propose the idea that cult films can be identified by a series of conventions or as they put it ‘The Anatomy’ (Mathijs and Mendik, 2007. P. 2). Cult films contain innovation either aesthetically or thematically to spark ‘shocks to the system’ (Mathijs and Mendik, 2007. P. 2) and changes to film history. Thematically ‘Django’ (2012) is subversive in its topic of extreme racial empowerment and reversal of racist dynamics. An example of how this is portrayed aesthetically is the transition in Django’s clothing.
He starts the film wearing only a piece of cloth around his waste but with help from Dr Shultz he works his way up the ranks going from slave to a comically blue suited valet to a smart and affluent Mandingo professional.

My chosen scene to analyse is the scene where Django and Dr Shultz enter Daughtrey. In this scene Django is dressed in very tattered clothing, dirty hat and has a poorly groomed beard. This combined with the shocked looks from bystanders solidifies Django’s position as an outcast.

It is only at the end of the film after all the white slaver men have been killed he is dressed in Calvin’s clothes smoking through his cigarette holder; he has physically and visually stolen Calvin’s position.

Typically Westerns made at the time of the racially segregated society which America and Europe consisted at the time of the westerns heyday seldom depicted African Americans even though they were ‘very visible in the real West’ (Loy, 2001. P. 1). This limited inclusion of blacks reflected the ‘current formula deemed acceptable to the public.’(Loy, 2001. P. 1 cited in Sarf. P. 224). When Westerns did reflect African Americans they did so only in the way that adhered to white stereotypes depiction:

‘blacks as loyal servants who want to be cared for by white people, blacks as pursuing menial occupations, blacks as naturally funny and cowardly, and blacks as dancers and entertainers.’(Loy. 2001, P.1)

Films like these had the motive of belittling blacks and maintain social order as they watched them, often in segregated cinema’s. With this topic in mind Tarantino also draws on another genre entirely; Blaxploitation; these films where popularised in the 1970’s which were made for the viewing of black people in the interest of racial empowerment.

‘If there were more than 5 black on a corner it would be considered a riot so they’d bring out the dogs, if your fought back you went straight to jail… the only way we could get away with it was on the screen’ (BadAssss Cinema. 2002)

They were often glorified violence and featured x-rated material. Cult cinema identified by Mathijs and Mendik is the inclusion of gore and uncomfortable material (Mathijs and Mendik, 2007. P. 2). ‘Django Unchained’ (2012) has bloody violence by the bucket load and uncomfortable torture scenes to boot especially in the Mandingo fighting scenes. The Blaxploitation film ‘Mandingo’ (1975) was one of the first to show the true horrors of black slavery and served as inspiration for Tarantino. In my chosen scene Dr Shultz murders the Sheriff quickly and gorily shooting him in the chest.

The black people with the exception of Steven; Calvin’s loyal head slave, hate being enslaved let alone enjoy caring for their owners. Stephen is Tarantino’s satirically comical interpretation of the black slave that previous westerns sought to represent. Just like how in previous Westerns ‘mythical Uncle Toms and sadistic whites collude to maintain slavery – a clever moral escape-hatch negate white guilt and guarantee crossover appeal’ (Speck .2014. P. 185).

Blaxploitation films featured soundtracks consisting of various musical styles including funk and soul music. ‘Django Unchained’ (2012) takes its own spin on a Blaxploitation soundtrack by including the song ‘Lo Chiamavano King’ which is fundamentally a soul song that sounds very similar to the theme song in ‘Boss Nigger’ (1975).

Mathijs and Mendik explain that Cult films will adhere to specific genres of films yet often they will mix genres together and carnivalise them by ‘mocking a genre’s unwritten rules satirically’ (Mathijs and Mendik, 2007. P. 2). ‘Django Unchained’ (2012) is a mix of genres including Spaghetti Western, Blaxploitation, slavesploitation and ozploitation.

In my chosen scene elements of Blaxploitation come through with the use of the N word and the portrayal of Django’s sexual prowess through his exchange with the lady in the window.

‘Django Unchained’ (2012) is very Spaghetti Western orientated, this genre is characterised by its use of close up camera work, antihero protagonist and music. Django takes a great deal from what is known as the ‘Dollar trilogy’ this being Sergio Leonies films ‘A Fistful of Dollars’(1964),  ‘For A Few Dollars More’(1965) and ‘The Good The Bad and The Ugly’(1966). Sergio Leone, employed a signature camera technique accidently breaking many of the previous rules that filmmakers thought necessary.

The music score played a big factor in making the ‘dollar trilogy’ iconic Ennio Morricone’s music was abnormal in its use of gunshots, cracking whips, whistles and voices. The music is considered an important score in movie history and is praised with its use of special effects to comically punctuate the action.

Tarantino made a decision to use Ennio Moricone for Django’s (2012) soundtrack, the song ‘The Braying Mule’ is played in my chosen scene as Django and Dr Shultz enters Daughtrey. This gives the film Nostalgia because the imagery and music is reminiscent of the scene in ‘A fistful of dollars’ when the man with no name enters the town. Ennio Moricone music is playing building suspense. There’s even some imagery that Tarantino takes from it with the hang mans rope hanging near the hero’s head denoting death. Nostalgia is one of Mathijs and Mendik codes for the Cult film Nostalgia in film is the films ability to trigger a sense of yearning for an idealized past (Mathijs and Mendik, 2007. P. 2).. Anyone who has seen the ‘A Fistful Of Dollars’(1964) will get a huge wave of nostalgia from just hearing its soundtrack.

The main elements of Spaghetti Westerns that are present in ‘Django Unchained’ (2012) is the direct referencing it makes to Sergio Corbucci’s 1968’s ‘Django’ (1966). Tarantino has said himself that he was directly ispired by Sergio Corbucci’s Django. It makes a few subtle nods to Corbucci by incorporating one the original’s actors Franco Nero.

Intertextuality is a renowned feature of cult films and of Tarantino’s style and is another one of Mathijs and Mendiks criteria for a cult film (Mathijs and Mendik, 2007. P. 2). ‘Django’ (2012) exemplifies Tarantino’s intertextuality with homages, references , quotes and inside jokes most probably reaching the triple figure mark.

When Django meets with one of Calvin Candies friends who’s played by the original Django; Franco Nero, he tells Franco that his name is Django ‘the d is silent’ with which Nero replies with ‘I know’. Movie trivia is rife in Tarantino films and which provide the keen eyed and cinematically informed a postmodern perspective.

The subtlest and perhaps most pleasure giving homages that Tarantino makes is Django’s blue suit scene. FW Murnau’s 1919 silent film ‘Knabe in Blau’(1919) was inspired by a 1770’s painting by Thomas Gainsborough called ‘The Blue Boy’. Murnau at the time was one of the most innovative film directors in his use of a camera technique which allowed filmmakers to move camera’s ad this techniques name was the ‘unchained camera technique’. This is testament to his range of references that changes the mainstream conventions of cinematic structure by toying with a bricolage of ‘high’ and ‘low’ art.
When viewing ‘Django’ (2012) with old spaghetti westerns in mind you can see the link between the ‘dollar trilogy’ in the way that camera frames into specific areas of the characters such as the eyes to emphasise a character looking or turning gaze and the hands or guns to show that the character is ready to draw his weapon. This technique Tarantino combines with his signature zoom in shot that he takes inspiration form 1970’s ‘kung fu’ movies.

This zoom shot can be seen in my chosen scene when Django and Dr Shultz enter the bar the barman is fixing the light and when he turns around spotting Django he shouts out with surprise ‘what the hell you think your doing boy, get that nigger out of here’ (Django Unchained, 2012). This is accompanied by one of Tarantino’s zoom shots which punctuate the surprise whilst also looking comically bad echoing the humorous way that the light swings and hits the barman’s head. A minute later the zoom shot is used again on Dr Shultz, this shows the versatility of the shot type as it can inform violence and humour.
Mathjis and Mendik propose that Cult films are meant to be bad, ‘aesthetically or morally’ attaining the status of otherness (Mathijs and Mendik, 2007. P. 2). ‘Django’s’ (2012) 70’s style zoom in’s and at times over the top blood effects and not to forget an awfully bad Australian accent from Tarantino himself are all examples of this concept. Cult films do however transgress these boundaries between good and bad at sometimes being very inventive and sometimes being very crude. Spike lee was one of the people who expressed concerns that the film mentions the ‘N’ word 110 times.

Loose ends define films as Cult according to Methijs and Mendik. It gives an open interpretation on moral dilemma’s philosophical points and of course it gives rise to debate within the cult film fan base community giving them ‘the freedom of speculating on the story’ (Mathijs and Mendik, 2007. P. 3). In ‘Django’ (2012) after the hero and his wife ride off victorious the question is begged if they will end up okay now.

Other things that I would like to talk about in my chosen scene is the way that classic western character and imagery is employed. We see Django ride next to Dr Shultz on a horse the silhouette is off a western classic ominous figure championed in ‘the dollars trilogy’. Dr Shultz is in his dentistry wagon and this makes us think of the infamous quack doctors that are so dominant in Western legend. The town is the stereotypical Western town verging on looking exactly like a classic Western movie set, even the bars swing doors ooze Hollywood fantasy.

The ‘dollar trilogy’ was one of the first western main protagonists to be an anti-hero, a man with good traits but who is ultimately morally ambiguous. In my chosen scene moral ambiguity is found in the character of Dr Shultz who explains over a pint to Django that not much is different to his profession to slavery; ‘like slavery it’s a flesh for cash business’ (Django Unchained. 2012). This darkness to the character is shown by the chiaroscuro lighting highlighting the duality of man.

Bill Shop looks aesthetically like the classic Sheriff with high authority, when Dr Shultz shoots him he immediately seems like an outlaw with no care for the system of authority. This concept is so unconventional and overwhelming to the bystanders and we even see a lady faint.

Inside the Bar the camera work consists of extreme close ups of the pint glasses and bar pumps accompanied by heightened sound effects. This contrasts at times with extreme long shots that define directors like Sergio Leone, this Tarantino offers as a nod to his inspirations.

In conclusion ‘Django Unchained’ (2012) is a masterful incarnation of cult film that ticks all of Mathijs and Mendik’s boxes. It combines unconventional inventiveness, provocative subject matter and stylistic decisions with a huge array of homages, references and general intertextuality. I chose the scene I did because I think it displays clearly all of these points but the greatness behind ‘Django Unchained’ (2012) is that if we look hard enough we can see all this in mostly all of its scenes.

Bibliography:

Loy, R. Philip. Westerns And American Culture, 1930-1955. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2001. Print.

Mathijs, Ernest, and Xavier Mendik. The Cult Film Reader. Maidenhead, Berkshire, England: Open

University Press/McGraw-Hill Education, 2008. Print.

Speck, Oliver C. Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained. Bloomsbury. 2014. Print.

Hiscock, John (April 27, 2007). "Quentin Tarantino: I'm proud of my flop". The Daily Telegraph

Baadasssss Cinema. 2002. Isaac Julien. Dir USA: Independent Film Channel.

Django Unchained. USA: Quentin Tarantino, 2012. Columbia Pictures. DVD.

Django. Spain: Sergio Corbucci, 1966.  Euro International Film. film.

Mandingo. USA: Kyle Onstott, 1876. Paramount Pictures. film.

Boss Nigger. USA: Jack Arnold, Dimension Pictures, 1975. film.

A Fistful Of Dollars. Spain: Sergio Leone, Unidis, 1964. film.

A Few Dollars More. Spain: Sergio Leone, Unidis, 1965. film.

The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Spain: Sergio Leone, Unidis. 1966. film