Welcome back to the second part of the analysis of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. The blog before this gave you some history of the movie as well as plot detail for those of you who've never seen the movie. We also briefly looked at the overall morale of the story and one hidden morale through the character Gaston and his vanity. This time, I will use some of the methods to analyze what the movie makes wanted us to think, feel or believe.
In our first blog, I gave you some terminology. A long shot is when the camera has a full bodied view of characters or when you can see their entire room and activities within the room. A close up is when the camera is showing all of a person's face or from the shoulders up. The long shot of Belle and Beast has to be the most famous shot of the movie. The shot begins a distance away from Belle and Beast, showing Belle's beautiful golden ball gown and Beast's very handsome suit. As the camera gets closer from a lower angle, you can see the details in her dress as they begin dancing while Mrs. Potts sings. The camera continues to get near to them and moves from being a long shot to a close up. This close up shows Belle and Beast's shoulders and their smiles as they gaze into each other's eyes. The shot moves around them for a moment and moves back towards being a long shot once again. The movie makers used this technique to make you, the audience, feel the love that they have between them, even though they have not yet told each other how they truly feel.
Once they're finished dancing, they retreat to the balcony where Beast plans to tell Belle how he feels about her or "confess his love" as Lumiere, one of the servants, phrased it. The movie makers used a double close up shot of Belle and Beast looking into each others eyes once again. This time however, we can see more than their love for each other. We can tell in this shot that they would do anything for each other. Before he is able to speak, Beast sends Belle home to find and care for her sick father, never revealing his true love for her.
Now that you've had an example of how you can observe camera shots to tell what kind of message the writers are trying to show us. So please, when you comment, give me a suggestion as to what movie we should analyze using Pathos, Logos, and Ethos. I will pick one or two and write the next blog about those movies. ( I can't write about it if I haven't seen it, please keep that in mind!) Thanks and keep reading!
Although I did not see this particular film, I find most films unrealistic, and full of subliminal messages.I suppose that the first thing that I should do is actually view this picture. But Disney has had a very long history of making the evil characters,dark-skinned and usually with dark hair and other dark features. I say that to mention the lion king, Simba was handsome,kind and innocent. his uncle Scar had a dark mane, dark eyes and a nasty scar on his face to illistrate his purpose of evil for that film. It is the subliminal messaging in film that disturbs me most. You can't, in real life, see the character of a person by simply looking at them. Their true character reveals itself, later. Ted Bundy was "Evil" personified, and yet his success in getting an endless supply of victims, relied on his ablility to appear "normal". Americans have and continue to perpetuate and send an unrealistic image of what good/bad looks like. They may say "for entertainment purposes only", but at what cost to future generations. Good people are thin, light-skinned and smiling, with long flowing hair and caucasian features. Bad characters have darker features and are of evil intentions, always. Those images have convinced generations of people that their natural hair, their current weight, their facial features are not good enough. People view these films as harmless, but are they really? As you can see from my responses to these blogs; I love being the devil's advocate. I don't take any of this seriosly.
ReplyDeleteI understand what Jacqueline expresses about the underlying way that Disney portrays characters. In the movie Princess and The Frog, Tiana, has a dream despite the hardships of being African American. She also is encountered by a witch doctor who turns her into a frog. The movie takes place in New Orleans where it is known that voodoo is practiced. My question now is, are indivduals just being hard on Disney? Let's talk about Dreamworks. Chicken Run is a movie that was animated by Dreamworks in 2006. This movie is about chickens who are trying to escape the chicken coop for a better life. In which the chicken coop was being operated as if it was a prison. The chickens as characters have cultural similarities such as clothing and names to that of the African American culture. As a parent I saw the subliminal message, but I also had to really look deep into the move. Then I realized that was the problem, I was looking too deep. The movie makers give us parents a little entertainment when we view movies with our children. Our chidren do not look that deep into movies. They enjoy them just as we should. I agree we should not take things so serious. It's entertainment!
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you. Movies that we, as adults and as parents see as wrong or portraying a bad message are not seen that way by kids because they don't think the way we do just yet. I think that's why Disney can get away with it, if it is meant to be degrading to people of color. It is the innocence of a child that allows them to enjoy entertainment such as the Lion King and Winnie the Pooh without thinking about why Scar is colored darker to show how evil he is or why Winnie the Pooh does not wear pants. I have to ask some people that I am friends with not to ruin my favorite childhood movies by suggesting that Winnie the Pooh is gay and in love with Piglet so that I can enjoy movies like that even though I am no longer young. Thanks for the input Jacqueline and CarmG
ReplyDeleteI do agree that Disney does make the bad characters dark and evil looking. At the same time i understand that it is like that to distinguish between the bad and the good although in real life a person can look nice but are evil/bad people.I don't believe its just Disney. I think all movies have some evil to them because its basically for entertainment and just shows the public wrong vs right. I do agree color shouldn't always be portrayed as evil, although it is what we learn from when we were young which should be changed.
ReplyDeleteI think that you gave a good example of how the camara shots make the audeince understand the movie. I loved to watch this movie as a child and I agree that you can tell they where in love befor either of them could say it. A great movie to write about just as a suggestion would be another disney movie, just because they are great movies to watch and write about.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback JessicaW. Which Disney movie is your favorite? (Other than the Lion King please :)
ReplyDeleteI have not watched enough Disney movies to effectively comment on this blog. However, I find it interesting that the topic of color and racial stereotypes are heavily used in their body of work.I think it's up to the viewing audience to call attention to it and boycott the films if necessary. People seem to complain about the hidden agenda, yet continue to invest money in the products.
ReplyDeleteI don’t exactly understand what I’m supposed to comment on or about. The angle and distances of the shots in movies don’t actually imbed different erroneous ideals into people heads. Do they? Wouldn’t it only be the messages they are putting across or a new prototype unveiling or process of doing something the things we need to look out for? I would never find a conspiracy in the angles.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many to choose from where do I start.lol I think that cinderella is an original, Snow White, Little Mermaid, or even an non cartoon diseny movie would be nice, for example The Toothfairy with the rock its very funny and a great movie.
ReplyDeleteI rarely pay attention to the camara shots in a movie but its interesting to know that by doing that the author is trying to send out a message. I do agree that usually the bad characters in disney movies usually wear dark clothing or are evil looking but since these movies are aimed at kids it is easier for them to distinguish who the bad charters are.I would probably would like to see a non disney cartoon movie analyzed.
ReplyDeleteI think that when Disney make movies like that is so that the can point out the goods and bads in people. I when you can and can not trust an person. But teaching them in a way to become more judge mental. By judging people by their appereances. When it what inside that really matters.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Con-2-Artist Publishing company: We weren't discussing conspiracies in the movie angles of a particular movie or scene in a movie. We got to that discussion through Jacqueline. Most of our comments were because of her beginning post. I think that in order to prove what ever point they are trying to get across the filmmakers must make you feel a certain way and concerning the movie the Beauty and the Beast, they need you to feel compassion, sympathy, and other emotions concerning love and deep feelings for someone else. Because they can't just come out and make you feel love, they use their tools of cinematography to make you understand how Belle and Beauty feel for each other. When you see a camera angle that moves in a circle around two people dancing in each others arms while angels look down on them from the ceiling, it kind of makes you feel that those two people are in love with each other...otherwise why would they be smiling so much while staring into each others eyes?
ReplyDeleteI think this is a very interesting way to look at the scene. I do agree that the filmmakers use different tactics to present a scene. But could it be that in this particular scene the producer was trying to show how free they felt together despite dramatic physical differences? And the feeling of being united made the characters fall in love. I think this is a wanderful fairy tail but I do agree with jacquelene also. We have our understanding of what is beautiful and anything that does not fit the norm is considered not good enough. I think kids get the subliminal message that if you are a girl you are prettey only when you look this particular way. But I think when kids watch these films they just enjoy the beauty of the picture. Adults can analyze anything to death.
ReplyDeleteThank you Olga for the very last part of your statement! While I am thankful that you chose to comment again, I love the very last line. We do this everytime we have an in-class discussion!! We analyze whatever we are talking about TO DEATH! Lol
ReplyDeleteWell I guess a camera shot can be part of film rhetoric. Sceens do play out what's communicated to us and the shot has to capture it. so,let me ask this Question. What's wrong with analyzing things to death? A common understanding is a good thing, right?
ReplyDeleteI just want to add to the past weeks dicussion. I think it is a good idea to analyzie movies from different angles. I would like to ask you to analyze the "Murmaid." It would be very interesting in what you guys will have to say.
ReplyDeleteI too think you gave a good example of how something as simple as a camera shot/angle can help the way we perceive a movie. I think that Disney and many other film makers use dark characters as the bad one to distinguished them from the good. I don't agree with it but it don't stop me from enjoying the movies. Just like medical fanatics said "People seem to complain about the hidden agenda, yet continue to invest money in the products." If you don't like it don't buy it.
ReplyDeleteI think that PrivateGray21 explained it very well that the filmmakers try to get the audience to feel a certain way by using different angles of the camera for different scenes in the movies. It makes a little more sense to me now. And about the racial things in the movies, I never noticed it, and rarely pay attention to it myself. I love Disney movies and so do my kids. I like Toy Story, Cars, Bolt, and so many. I'm not a racial person, so I will try to look past that, not for my own benifits but because my kids are biracial and they love movies, and I really think Disney makes some great movies, not only for children. And I kinda agree with Con2artist about analyzing things to death.
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