The article that I found to fufill a formalist approcah to film was from a website for Stanley Kubrick, a well known director in Hollywood. The article, for the most part, deals with different elements of mise-en-scene in many of Kubrick's films. Different items are mentioned and their significance explained.
On board of the B-52 bomber piloted by Major T.J. "King" Kong in DR. STRANGELOVE Stanley Kubrick placed as a symbol of the Cold War the curious Survival Kit. During a security check on the flight Major Kong reads out loud the list of the Kit's contents: "Survival Kit contents check. In them you will find: one 45 caliber automatic, two boxes of ammunition, four day's concentrated emergency rations, one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills, one miniature combination Rooshan phrase book and Bible, one hundred dollars in rubles, one hundred dollars in gold, nine packs of chewing gum, one issue of prophylactics, three lipsticks, three pairs of nylon stockings - shoot, a fellah could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff ...".
The article is formalist because of the mise-en-scence, in this case the "survival kit", relates the film to the feelings of the era, the Cold War. Kubrick is well known for inserting either a character or an object that somehow relates the film to present day feelings on present day world moods. Full Metal Jacket is an example of such a film, with the attitude of the soliders, in some cases madness, reflecting the mood of many American GIs who were serving in the war.
No comments:
Post a Comment