Spirited Away

I watched Spirited Away (2001) the year it came out, and as an eleven year old I was awestruck by this other world on screen. Ever since then I have been a huge fan of Hayao Miyazaki's films, but Spirited Away will always stand out as my favourite.
Seeing a different country's culture and mythology presented in this fairytale was so fascinating to me and I was caught up in the young girl Chichiro's journey to find her parents amidst the chaos of this other world. I felt scared for her, but also felt her curiosity as she explores the bathhouse holding monsters and creatures taken from Japanese mythology.
When I travelled to Tokyo I made a point of going to visit a shrine so that I could explore, like Chichirro, this other world and culture that seemed so foreign and fascinating.

Work's Cited:

Spirited Away. 2001. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli.

Asian Stereotypes

Reading Tracey Chin's article "Sayonara Stereotypes" (2003), I couldn't help but remember how horrified I was by Mickey Rooney's performance in Breakfast At Tiffany's (Edwards 1961). I was told by my mother that it was common practice for white actors to play the parts of Asian characters, often unashamedly stereotypical. As Chin discusses in her article, many Asian actors, screenwriters and directors are now taking back their culture and making their mark on Hollywood cinema but it is slow going (2003, 18). Do Asian actors need to completely separate themselves from their ethnicity to be recognised as an artist for their talents? Is it up to Asian actors and directors to do this? Or should studio systems in Hollywood change they way they cast, try to become blind to looks so they only see the talent? Or should any performance still involve Asian culture but be wary of it becoming exploitative?

Works Cited:

Breakfast At Tiffany's. 1961. Dir. Blake Edwards. Jurow-Shepherd Production.

Chin, Tracy. “Sayonara Stereotypes: The Depiction of Chinese/Japanese Americans in Hollywood Cinema.” AlphaVision, Vol. 2(1), 2003: 14-19.

Religion in Film

I watched three films over the weekend that all mentioned religion in different ways. The Help (Taylor 2011) discussed the true nature of being a good Christian and loving thy neighbour. Machine Gun Preacher (Forster 2011) built upon this by taking a drug-addicted bikie to the extreme landscape of southern Sudan. In this film Christianity saves the 'preacher' from his previous life but throws up other contradictions, such as how can there be a God while the children of Sudan are suffering in such horrendous ways? Lastly I watched Moneyball (Miller 2011) which explored the religion of baseball.

In each of these films religion plays an intrinsic role in at least one of the characters lives and influences how they make decisions. For example, Viola Davis' character Aibileen is moved to speak out after listening to a sermon from her Pastor in The Help. I think it shows that religion definitely isn't going anywhere; these films are set in different times and countries and yet it still plays a role.

I should note that these three films are American, and we have discussed in tutorials that religion plays a larger role in society then perhaps it does in Australia.

Works Cited:

The Help. 2011. Dir. Tate Taylor. Dreamworks SKG and Reliance Entertainment.

Machine Gun Preacher. 2011. Dir. Marc Forster. Relativity Media.

Moneyball. 2011. Dir. Bennett Miller. Columbia Pictures.

Romanticising the Past

While watching Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) (Kunuk 2001) I was swept up in the amazing landscape and seemingly 'simple' lives the characters were leading. Critics will often damn Hollywood for "romanticising" the past (Schatz 1981, 46) but it is difficult to present a time and place different from our own in its true form for the simple fact that we did not experience it. This criticism of a romantic or mythic past was mentioned in our lecture regarding Atanarjuat as well as the Australian film Ten Canoes (de Heer and Djigirr 2006) and brought up the debate of whether it is right to depict cultures that our now experiencing social displacement in this romantic way? As a film student I feel that no movie should be held as the ultimate of its genre or story, so that while Ten Canoes may show a romanticised or "utopian" past- although not many critics did hold this opinion (Davis 2007, 6)- when when watched alongside Samson and Delilah (Thornton 2009) it simply shows another side of a complex culture.

Works Cited:

Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner). 2001. Dir. Zacharias Kunuk. Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.

Davis, Therese. “Remembering our ancestors: cross-cultural collaboration and the mediation of Aboriginal culture and history in Ten Canoes (Rolf de Heer, 2006).” Studies in Australasian Cinema, Vol.1(1), 2007: 5-14.

Samson and Delilah. 2009. Dir. Warwick Thornton. CAAMA Productions and Scarlett Pictures.

Schatz, Thomas. “The Western.” In Hollywood Genres: Formulas, Filmmaking and the Studio System, 45-52. New York : Random House, 1981.

Ten Canoes. 2006. Dir. Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr. Adelaide Film Festival and Fandango Australia.

Florence + The Machine - Shake It Out

Someone I love is in hospital, alone and in pain, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Someone offers their prayers and I thank them politely, careful not to let them hear the scepticism I’m feeling.
Sport is the religion of some as it gives people a sense of belonging and certainty in uncertain times (Chidester 1998, 745). Music does this for me; music is what I turn to. Florence Welch belts out “It’s always darkest before the dawn!” And I cling to those words.
They become my mantra.
My call to prayer.
My Hail Mary.
It’s always darkest before the dawn; she’s going to be ok.
It’s always darkest before the dawn.
She’s going
To be
Ok.

Work Cited:

Chidester, David. “The Church of Baseball, the Fetish of Coca-Cola, and the Potlach of Rock 'n' Roll: Theoretical Models for the Study of Religion in American Popular Culture.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion LXIV/4, 1998: 743-765.

Florence+TheMachineVEVO, “Florence + The Machine: Shake It Out.” YouTube. 3 October 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbN0nX61rIs&ob=av2e (accessed May 8, 2012).