class extra credit blog

The overall plot of Set It Off plays out like your typical story about getting out of the projects by turning to crime. But at the same time, it isn't. This movie has a meaning, a compulsion, a human desire for freedom usually not seen in other gangster/robbery films. In this movie there is true hope, and true redemption for at least one character; all the way to the tragic end.

As it examines the motivations that spur the friends into crime, Set It Off perhaps over-exaggerates the overwrought depictions of the abuses heaped upon the women by the injustices of the social system. In a rivetingly shot opening action sequence, Frankie the bank teller is unwittingly thrust into the middle of a bank-robbery crossfire. Because she recognizes the stick-up man from the 'hood, this girl from the projects, who we believe until now has advanced in the world by doing the right thing, is unjustly fired for her relation to the robber. Her unjust dismissal is what drives Frankie's desire for revenge.

All of the women have in someway been screwed with by the government system. Tisean abruptly loses custody of her baby after the child suffers an accident while at her workplace, and Stony sees her younger brother, whom she had hoped to send to college, fatally shot by ruthless cops in a case of mistaken identity. Cleo, a swaggering butch lesbian, has the fewest gripes with the system (whereas Stony wants to use her share of the heist money to get away from the projects, Cleo can't imagine any life away from the 'hood). Although thrills and excitement are Cleo's initial motivations, it is she who winds up being the group's hell-bent mouthpiece for sisterhood and defiance.
Queen Latifah brings an extraordinary presence to the proceedings of the film with her character, Cleo. It's more than just her no-fuss approach to the sexual orientation of her character. Latifah shows real skill in the way that she scowls and glares at her adversaries and the way that she delights in her friends' company and her new-found job skills. Latifah brings something new and startling to the traditional screen depiction of women, something that comes across as so completely indifferent to how she's perceived by any camera or viewer. I thought she played her role was flawlessly.

One gripe I had about the movie was with the character of Stony. She is constantly talking about how she doesn't feel free living in the projects. She instead feels like a caged animal that's being held back by the government. If she really wanted to be "free", she would have taken her chance with Keith, the banker. Keith offered Stony a life of freedom that she had never previously had access to. It is how the movie deals with their relationship that troubles me. If Stony was truly meant to feel free, she would have left her life of crime behind her, even if that includes distancing herself from her friends (who mostly seem to be nuisances). Stony would have gone to start a life with Keith, instead, she throws everything in her life away for one final bank heist.

The movie concludes with everyone being killed except Stony. Stony takes the money and runs off to Mexico to be "free". Somehow I don't feel that she is really free. My definition of freedom does include isolation from my home country and all of my friends dying. Perhaps the director, Gary Gray, could have done a better job interpreting the script, because I think he is sending mixed messages with the resolution of the film.

Posted by Stephen Kuzj at 04:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Colors play an essential role in Jane Campion’s “The Piano”. They tell a story all of their own. By paying attention to the use of color alone, you could grasp a feel for the movie’s plot without ever turning on the sound. Colors hint at the moods and feeling of the characters and also provide subtle hints at the deeper meaning of the film. By studying how a particular director uses color throughout the film, you will eventually gain a deeper understanding of material. You will observe and decode messages that other viewers will miss. Gaining knowledge of the use of color will allow you to see new angles and meanings in films you may have seen a dozen times. Different colors often mean different things to different directors. Directors will often have varying interpretation and views on the meaning of each color and thus where each color belongs in the film.

In general, it is never as easy as black and white when it comes to finding the colors in modern movies. The overall color of a room or setting is usually your best hint at decoding a film’s use of color. Most of the time, however, the director won’t give you that easy of hint. The majority of a film’s use of color as imagery comes from key objects in each individual scene. Jane Campion shades in colors in some of The Piano’s most important items. Jane does a terrific job at using each color of the film. I will now give you my opinion on the use and meaning of some of those most important colors.
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Green is used for the luscious landscape and wild vegetation of New Zealand. Throughout “The Piano”, green posses some kind of dark beauty throughout the movie. Whenever we see bright, vivid shades of green in the film, the overall feeling is brighter than in most other parts of the film.

Black is used in dresses, the dead trees around the Husband’s house, and the piano keys that Ada has to work for to get the piano back. I cannot be certain what the black signifies, but I believe it means change. When Ada gets a new marriage, she and her daughter are both wearing black (Ada is wearing a black dress under the white wedding dress). The black trees are around their house represent a new life. The black piano keys are, in my mind, each a change in Ada’s feeling, her feeling for Baines and herself.

Red is shown whenever there are moments of intense passion or emotion. The bed Ada and Baines have sex in has a red sheets; although this is perhaps a turning point of the film, it is not as emotion filled as the confrontation Ada has with her husband. The blood that comes out of Ada’s finger is red. The most dramatic moment in the film, when Ada’s husband cuts her finger off, uses a very bright red that splashes on the daughter, so it’s very noticeable. I would argue that it is the most red that appears in the film, the strength of the color representing the emotion of the moment.

The whit in this film might be the easiest to figure out. Whenever a character is shown wearing white, it represents their innocence and purity. The wedding dress Ada wears is white (as most are), but I believe that the dress is a fake symbol of purity for Ada. Ada tears off the wedding dress, as if she’s rejecting what it represents: purity. Ada is not a pure woman; she cheats on her husband, I think this is why Jane Campion has her tear off the dress. Jane is making a statement about the character of Ada. White is shown most commonly on the daughter. The daughter wears different white garments and white wings. The daughter is shown to be the stereotypical, pure and innocent little girl and her outfits represent this.

Blue is the most common color in this film. The lighting is blue, as well as the clothes Blue represents sorrow and is in most of the film because the film has a depressing overtone to it. The blue tint on the screen only goes away when there is something on a lighter note that’s happening. There is blue in the beginning when Ada and her daughter move, there is blue when Ada gets married, blue when Ada’s husband hurts her and blue at the end when Ada is pulled into the ocean. The blue finally disappears in the end once Ada begins her new life with Baines.

Posted by Stephen Kuzj at 08:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)