Film Précis 2:
On Lubitsch's Ninotchka or To Be or Not To Be
HEADER: Include your name and the date; the film titles, directors, dates,
countries, and studios (in the form: Title. Dir. NAME. Country: studio, date.)
FOCUS: How [film x] uses comedy to represent what is at stake for people
involved in political situations. What case is being made about that political situation?
Who are victims, who villains, and where does the particular moment of danger rest for
individuals? What is the audience being warned about or illuminated about in the
representations of the film's heroes, victims, and villains?
LOGIC and GOAL: By showing what [some sets of film details] correlate
with what historical facts, and what the representations imply for the audience,
the biases of the film and the audience toward which it is directed reveal
themselves, trying to convince that audience [of what].
FILM SITUATION AND HISTORY
DETAILS BEHIND IT
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IMPLICATION: what's highlighted,
suppressed in this choice,
and what's important for the audience's
perception of the politics
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EXAMPLE 1:
Ninotchka reviles a designer hat as "decadent," then looks at it longingly,
then buys it and wears it to signal her "thaw"
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EXAMPLE 1:
The "Cold War" and communism are portrayed as suppressing reality;
the film thus uses the hat to show how good a communist
she is at first, and then what of "her humanity" the West can give her back
= a fairly standard assessment of "why communism is bad for people"
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YOU ADD TWO OR THREE OTHER EXAMPLES:
be sure to refer to specifics in
the film (scenes, names, framing, lighting . . . ; see the class handouts on how
to read films for ideas)
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IMPLICATION:/B>
(address in 1-2 paragraphs what these choices tell us about the filmmaker's
agenda and his/her assessment of the audience)
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