A Non Traditional Chick Flick

Wendy and Lucy is not the type of movie you think of right away when talking about chick flicks. It is a movie with serious political undertones about a woman, who is essentially homeless, travelling to Alaska on her own. When I think of a chick flick I usually think of a storyline that involves the main character (who is a female) trying to win over some guy, talking to her friends about said guy, crying over the guy, and finally earning the love of this oh so special man. The genre tends to be a little on the shallow end and the plots are largely driven by obtaining love. However movies of the chick flick genre also have a focus on friendship and are usually highly emotional.

In Wendy and Lucy, Wendy has no gal pals to gab with and she definitely has no love interest, instead she has a dog. I think that Wendy and Lucy fits the chick flick genre because the main character is a woman and the movie focuses on her friendship with her dog. Although the characters themselves don’t get overemotional the movie does cover topics that pull at the heartstrings such as homelessness, loosing a friend, being on one’s own, and chasing goals. Where Wendy and Lucy strays from the traditional chick flick is in its lack of a romantic storyline. This is very refreshing, because it shows a more realistic portrayal of a woman. According to most chick flicks women make all their decisions based on men, 80% of their conversations are about men, and the majority of their emotions are caused by men. This is simply not true. That is why it is great to see a movie that focuses on a woman’s trials, goals, friendships, and independence as separate entities unattached to her love life.

Comedy in O Brother Where Art Thou

The use of comedy in O Brother Where Art Thou is a large part of what makes the movie so successful. The camera, the script and the actors all help create the sort of scholarly slapstick comedy that is the movie’s signature. The scene where the congregation comes through the forest and Delmar and Pete get saved could be a very serious scene examining religion and its effects on he human spirit, and while it does dabble in those topics it does so with a comedic flare that adds to the entertainment of the scene.

The scene opens with Everett walking up to the camp where Pete and Delmar are sitting around a fire eating. Everett and Pete discuss how they are going to get to the treasure. There are a series of close up shots on Pete and Everett as they discuss transportation to the treasure, interrupted by close ups of Delmar as he offers Everett a gopher, saying “gopher Everett?”. Pete realizes that Everett has stolen from his cousin and as he realizes this the camera zooms into an even closer up shot of Pete who has narrowed his eyes to a slit in a look of hatred. The exaggeration of Pete’s expression combined with the dramatic zoom in on his face creates a comedic aura instead of one of drama. Once again Delmar offers the gopher to Everett. Music is brought in and the sound interrupts Pete and Everett’s argument. Faintly behind the close up of Pete and Everett you can see white robed figures. The camera then has movement for the first time in the scene and there is a tracking shot around the 3 men showing that they are surrounded by these people in white. Once again, Everett is offered some gopher by Delmar. 

The camera then cuts to the three men walking among the crowd and the music becomes much louder. The camera then zooms out to a bird’s eye view and we get a sense of how big the crowd is and we see that they are all getting baptized. Just as Everett starts talking about how silly the whole thing is the camera cuts to Delmar slopping exaggeratedly through the water towards the priest. Delmar then says he’s a new man and heaven everlasting is his reward and Everett responds with “we’ve got bigger fish to fry”. The scene ends with Pete shoving his hat to Everett and slopping through the water off screen on his way to be baptized as well.

New Images in My Own Private Idaho

I thought that from the beginning My Own Private Idaho created many new images. The opening scene was enticing and intrigued me to want to watch more of the film. It opens on a young man standing next to a road in the middle of nowhere. There are no other people and besides the road and a fence there are no signs of other people for miles. The image gives a very solitary feel and raises several questions about who the young man is, how he got there and what he’s doing there. 

Then the young man, who we later find out is the main character Mike, starts speaking, first just counting while he looks at his pocket watch and takes steps. Then he moves to the middle of the road and speaks about roads. The fact that he can stand in the middle of the road without any concern speaks to the remoteness of his location. The inserted shots of the landscape that break up the scene also show this vast remoteness. Mike’s monologue starts with “I always know where I am by the way the road looks.” Which seems like a silly statement given that there appears to be no landmarks of any kind on this particular road and it appears to be the same for miles in either direction. He goes on to describe the road as someone’s face, and this is referenced later in the film when Mike and Scott return to this road. 

The scene ends with Mike collapsing right in the middle of the road in a narcoleptic fit. He then has a dream sequence involving a woman (we assume is his mother) gently speaking words of comfort and running her hands through Mike’s hair. I thought that this was a very different but effective way to introduce a character and a film. I think it gives the viewer a good amount of information about Mike, his loneliness, his desire to be with his mother, and his vagabond ways. The unusual setting, odd monologue and short dream sequence all help to show the viewer who Mike is and it’s all done in a combination that I haven’t seen before.