Genre Analysis of The Vanishing

I would not consider The Vanishing to be a horror movie. To me the key element to a horror movie is a strong use of suspense. I do not argue that Raymond’s actions in The Vanishing are horrifying, I just believe that to truly be a horror movie there has to be a sense of suspense throughout the story. If the only qualification of the horror genre is that the subject matter of the film must be horrifying then any war movie or documentary on genocide would qualify as a horror movie. Like The Vanishing, these movies are missing the edge of your seat tension that marks most horror films. 

The scene where Saskia is drugged and abducted, for example exhibits little to no suspense. Prior to this scene the viewer has already been introduced to the fact that Saskia has indeed been abducted, we have seen Raymond practice his methods of abduction, and we know the time and location of the abduction. So by the time the film actually shows Saskia’s abduction the viewer already knows the who, what, when, where, and how. As a consequence there is very little, if any, surprise in the abduction scene. It is very hard to build suspense without the idea that something unexpected is about to happen and since the viewer already knows how the kidnapping scene is going to play out, there is no building of suspense. 

The setting for the abduction doesn’t help. It’s a very public place with children playing in the sun and people pumping gas. Nothing about it creates suspense. The scene also lacks traditional musical cues of suspense, there is no building musical theme to clue the viewer into what is about to happen. In fact there is no use of music at all, just the diegetic sounds of tiles clinking in a box and the distant sound of children playing, neither of which adds any tension to the scene.

Scene Analysis of Killer of Sheep

I chose to analyze a scene about two-thirds the way through the movie where Stan and his wife dance together to This Bitter Earth by Dinah Washington. The scene opens to a dark room with the only source of light coming from a window. Stan and his wife stand in front of the window the lighting making them little more than silhouettes. The darkness surrounding the couple makes the space seem tighter and more confined, much like many of the other scenes in the film. The camera stays in one position throughout the scene as the couple sways in front of the window.

When the scene opens Stan and his wife stand with a far amount of space in between each other. As the scene progresses Stan’s wife starts moving closer and closer to Stan and begins to kiss him, increasing their physical contact. Though their contact increases, their emotional distance never dissipates. Although Stan lets his wife hold and kiss him he does not reciprocate and in fact his wife adjusts his hold on her herself in her attempt to become more intimate with her husband. His expression during the whole scene is emotionless and distant, and he doesn’t look at his wife. Finally as Stan’s wife starts to desperately clutch at Stan in her attempt to elicit a connection with him, Stan recognizes her presence and actually looks at her only to throw her off of him and walk out of the scene. This leaves Stan’s wife crying by the window.

The scene helps to illustrate the disconnect Stan feels with not just his wife but also his whole family unit. Despite his wife’s attempts at intimacy, Stan is just incapable of having this kind of connection with her. This goes back to the overarching idea of the dehumanization of Stan at his job and how this spills over to his private life.

The Strong and Silent Clint Eastwood

In The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Clint Eastwood plays the character of Blondie, an outlaw in the Wild West. This character helps to set up what how Clint Eastwood is thought of as an actor for the rest of his career. The character of Blondie has very few lines throughout the film, especially in comparison to his comrade Tuco. In most scenes they have together Tuco does most if not all of the talking and Blondie will stand there strong and silent possibly adding a good one liner, but not chattering away the way Tuco does. In the film Tuco’s chattering is presented in a way that makes him appear weak or vulnerable while Blondie’s silence gives him an appearance of toughness.

Eastwood is also able to utilize his signature scowl in his portrayal of Blondie. In most shots Blondie isn’t talking and is instead scowling and whoever he is being spoken to by. The scowl shows that he’s listening, thinking, planning but it’s all going on in his head, he’s not expressing his thoughts out loud. The scowl also has a masculine strength to it and gives Eastwood an almost stoic appearance. Eastwood’s face shows little emotion beyond the scowl. He very rarely smiles in the film and of course he never cries. This lack of outward emotion again adds to the persona of Eastwood as the strong silent type.

Awara, The Musical

I would definitely describe Awara as a musical. The most important factor in a musical is, obviously, the involvement on music in the story. There are many scenes in Awara that involve characters singing about their situations or feelings. The songs also all appear to be diegetic with the characters participating in some way. For example there is a scene at the beginning of the film where the judge and Leela are on the boat heading to their home, there are many people around the boat singing an ominous song. Neither the judge nor Leela participate in the singing but Leela asks the judge a question about what they’re singing indicating that even when the characters are not themselves creating the music they are aware of its existence around them.

Another important part of musicals is the dancing, which Awara takes full advantage of. The dance scenes in Awara vary in intensity from scenes where Rita just sort wanders around the shot to scenes like the dream sequence which involve choreographed moves with many back up dancers. Either way dance plays a big role in Awara.

Costumes are also usually, although no always, a large of part of musical films. In Awara elaborate costuming is used occasionally in correlation with the character of Rita. The dream sequence involves the use of sparkles and a goddess like dress to help create Raj’s heaven fantasy. Rita also wears fancy flowing nightgowns to help amp up the drama in night scenes where she sings of her longing for Raj. The wind sweeps up her gown and elegantly blows it around her just as she hits the high note. The combination of song, dance, and costuming are markers of what makes a musical and Awara’s consistent exploitation of these techniques marks the film as a musical in its own right.